Vandread SEED Destiny
by Dark-Infinities
Summary: In an attempt to flee from a Harvest fleet the Paksis sends the Nirvana hurtling not through space but also across dimensions and the crew finds itself at the mercy of pirates that are piloting strange machines. Can they survive or will they be destroyed?
1. Crossing Paths

**Disclaimer: Vandread is property of** **Gonzo and Media Factory animation studios**

**Gundam SEED is property of Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment.**

**Kazuki Uraki and all other OCs mentioned are owned by yours truly.**

**A/N:** Welcome to Vandread SEED Destiny or as I like to call it VSD. Many of you are undoubtedly wondering why I ditched VS and decided to start working on VSD, so to put it simply I didn't feel like doing a recap of the series like most of the other fanfics out there and in the end I decided to make a side story to GSD while including enough Vandread elements so it doesn't overly interfere with the actual Gundam SEED canon. As mentioned in the above disclaimers Kazuki does make a return and hopefully with this setting we'll get to see some more action from him. So without further delay I'll let you start reading and enjoy the fanfic.

PS: Leave a review and tell me if there's anything you'd like removed or added.

Sincerely, D-I

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**Vandread SEED Destiny – Phase 01: Crossing Paths**

September 27, Cosmic Era 71 During the final stages of the Second Battle of Jachin Due the Earth Alliance once again prepared to use nuclear warheads on the PLANT homeland however this decision along with the Atlantic Federations previous actions did not sit well with their allies and soon led to defections who sided with the goals of the Three Ships Alliance and a civil war within the ranks, however this wasn't exclusive for the soldiers amongst the Earth Alliance for even those within ZAFT had their misgivings about the turn of events that had unfolded before them.

By the end of the war both the Earth Alliance and the ZAFT forces saw many soldiers leaving their ranks for one reason or another, some becoming pirates, mercenaries, members of the Junk Guild or terrorists who continued the ideals of Patrick Zala.

**Opening - Ignited by TM Revolution**

**CE 73 August 10; Ex-Earth Alliance vessel **_**JELLICOE**_**; Location: L 4 – en route to Mendel Colony **

Aboard a lone refitted Nelson-class vessel that once had belonged to the Eurasian Federation claxons blared violently as it approached towards the operation zone. "All hands report to your stations, pilots standby in your machines." People floated throughout the ship as they hurried to their stations

"Here." A blonde haired woman handed a data pad to a brunette pilot dressed in dark blue and black flight suit.

Jade green eyes skimmed over the details on the hand held device with an intensity and focus as his mind absorbed the stored information "The mission?" he asked indifferently, looking back down at the data pad making sure he hadn't missed anything.

The blonde haired woman nodded as they floated towards the hangar "They're another group from the Debris Belt that have made their way to L4 looking to for easy prey, like survey ships and Junkies." The commander of mobile suit team on the Ex-Earth Alliance vessel stated nonchalantly.

Grabbing a hold of the railing next to the door that led to the hangar of the Jellicoe, the former Combat Coordinator look back to his superior officer "Mobile Suits?" he asked already knowing the answer.

The door hissed open and a dark haired man stood in the door who wrapped an arm around the teen's neck "Apparently nearly every group now days has one. But at least it'll be more of a challenge this time however that's if they don't run. Right Kazuki?" the dark haired man in a yellow and black flight suit said jokingly upset how the pirates always tend to flee at the sight of a superior force

Not wanting to deal with anymore, unnecessary banter Kazuki removed his comrade's arm and floated past to his mobile suit without saying a word to his easy-going comrade however gave a nod to the mechanic who updated the combat coordinator of the changes to his custom black and white GAT-01A1 105 Dagger.

The raven-haired man's right eye twitched after being ignored so casually and turned to face the other pilot that disappeared into the cockpit of the customised black, red and white mobile suit "You know it's stuff like that, that reminds me why I don't take you out drinking with me. OW!" he shouted irritated by Kazuki's usual neutral and seemingly aloof attitude before letting out a yelp as he felt someone pulling on his ear.

"Just get ready, moron." The blonde haired commander growled unimpressed by his childish behaviour and released her subordinate from her grip.

Stumbling slightly across the deck plating the young man kicked off and turned back to face her with a grin "Fine but only if you go out with me after the mission. Okay I get it, I get it." The man winked as he let out an uneasy laugh, before ducking into a mass production Buster Dagger as his superior let out a warning glare "Next time then…Whoa!" he quipped after putting on a helmet and ducked back in as female squad commander threw a spanner at the shameless flirt after finally having enough of his antics however to her disdain the tool ricocheted off of the edge of the armour and hit one of the mechanics on the back of the head prompting her to make a swift retreat to her Duel Dagger, Fortresta.

**Unknown Vessel; Location: L 4 – Mendel Colony**

Outside of the Mendel colony a vessel of unknown origin drifted silently through space and violently came to a halt. The sudden jolt stirred the crew of the double hulled, knife like vessel who had all fell unconscious after the Paksis made another jump in an attempt to escape the Harvest Fleet "Ugh where are we?" the elderly female captain asked as she held her head pounding head after briefly glimpsing the cylindrical colony out of the corner of her eye.

After shaking her head and gathering her thoughts Ezra looked at her screen and scanned the area for anything that might be familiar "Checking, stellar charts. I am unable to confirm our location, none of the stars match what we have on record." She responded double-checking the readings on her console to make sure which she was seeing was correct and not some glitch in the system.

"Are we in another galaxy?" Buzam frowned as she, like the rest of the crew tried to figure out how the structure beside the ship suddenly appeared however her greatest concern was their exact location.

Not wanting to stick around and discuss the issue Magno turned her attention to the helm "BART! GET US MOVING!" she ordered at the top of her voice.

"I'm trying! But it just doesn't want to move as if we're stuck or something." The shaven headed man complained as the hull of the ship groaned and creaked; threatening to break under the pressure while it struggled to move.

The radar operator's eyes widened when she saw what the problem was and when a series of blips appeared on her screen "Captain! The ship appears to be caught in some sort of tether and I'm detecting multiple signatures on sensors!" panic ran through Amarone's voice as she displayed the image on her screen which showed two heavily armed Marseille III class transport vessels and a Pirate Cruiser followed by a swarm of custom ZGMF 1017-GINNs and mobile armours

As the fleet made their move on the helpless Nirvana the crew watched with baited breath as they waited to see whether the ships and their escorts were either friend or foe and their answer came when Coco Belvedere's console beeped "We're receiving some sort of signal from one of the ships, text only it reads. 'Surrender your vessel and supplies immediately or you will be destroyed. From the Hillas pirate gang'" she read aloud to the bridge crew.

"The nerve." Magno Vivan gritted her teeth at the ironic situation that they were in now.

Hearing the captain's despise for the message they were sent the commander wasted no time "All Dread teams scramble!" The platinum blonde shouted, her voice echoed throughout the ship and swiftly put up a line of defence in front of the Nirvana

Seeing that their prey wasn't going to surrender so easily the pirates were the first to open fire on the seemingly unarmed battleship in front of them signalling the commencement of the battle and beams of green and blue quickly filled the dark abyss of space. "What the are these things? Are these Vanguards?" Jura complained as explosions flared around her red coloured Dread fighter and a custom assault GINN hunt her down.

"Just remain on guard and don't get careless." Meia replied to Jura's whining in a serious tone however she gasped when a pair of high mobility custom GINNs appeared in front of her and began hammering her shields with 76mm AP/HE round from their heavy assault machineguns.

As a Dread spun out of control past the Nirvana, the monocular eye of a GINN flashed bright red as the pilot turned his attention to his next victim "These mobile armours don't stand a chance." The pilot grinned wickedly as he licked his lips hungrily.

"Like swatting flies." Another quipped enjoying how the Dreads stood little chance against the mobile suits while the mobile armours continued to relentlessly harass the foreign battleship.

The leader of the pirate squadron of Mobile Suits turned his camera to his bloodthirsty comrades "Remember we can't salvage anything if they're too badly damaged" his voice was calm as he narrowly avoided the laser bolts fired from Barnette's fighter.

"Heh…that doesn't mean we can't destroy one or two by accident right?" Another pilot of GINN designed for close combat said viciously firing a claw with an anti-beam coating that struck against the cockpit of a Dread causing it to erupt into a ball of flaming debris.

"Oh-yeah" the first said in glee watching the flaming wreckage spin pass and hit the shields of the alien vessel.

As the ship shuddered and rocked violently from each impact against the flickering shields, the hopes and spirits of the crew continued to drain as each report came in with only more bad news "Shields are down to the third level." Amarone shouted as the bridge shook after as an anti-ship missile impacted and exploded against the failing protective bubble.

"_My control thrusters have been hit, I need to return to the ship for repairs."_ Barnette appeared on the main monitor as smoke rose from her damaged fighter's engines and sparks flickered inside her cockpit

As damage reports and tactical readings flashed on the screen before her Belvedere began to perspire "The B Team has been completely out manoeuvred and the C Team has been completely disabled." She announced uneasily to the crew on the bridge.

The commander didn't like where the situation was headed and was out of ideas on what to do, some sort tether trapped them and now an unknown enemy was attacking them and out pacing their Dreads "This doesn't look good captain at this rate-" BC turned to Magno in the hopes of finding some sort of answer as she tried to settle her turning stomach at the dire situation.

"It appears that way and seeing as we don't know anything about this enemy, we can't do anything to solve it." She watched as her heart began to sink as the unknown mecha continued to hinder the Dread's attempts to get into a formation.

Swinging the energy blade recklessly amongst the chaos of the battle between the two pirate groups Hibiki began to curse his luck as he continued to miss his targets and how he was easily being made to look like a fool "Damn it! You're all so annoying!" he shouted thrusting his sword at the leader of the pirate GINNs only to miss him yet again and to be thrown against an asteroid.

Back on the _JELLICOE_ awaiting for their orders the Mobile suit forces of the mercenary group know as Guardian went over the details of the mission one last time _"Remember what we discussed at the briefing, Jameson will deal with the vessels and I'll defend the JELLICOE while it supports you in eliminating their main mobile armour and mobile suit force"_ The squadron commander appeared on the upper right monitor of the cockpit. _"We've also received word from reconnaissance that the pirates are attacking an unknown ship at the interception coordinates."_ She added updating the recent information they had and sent him still photos of the fighters engaging the mobile suits, which appeared on the main monitor.

Kazuki looked at the image and took in all the detail on what they were about to face in the upcoming battle "Understood." He said in an apathetic tone as his superior disappeared from the upper-right hand monitor and his companions were released into the linear catapults on either side of the Nelson-class vessel.

The commander of the Mobile Suit team closed the visor of her pink and black helmet after the Duel Dagger was floated out onto the starboard side linear catapult "Hilde Ravensbrück, Duel Dagger launching!" she announced to the CIC operator of the Jellicoe and was thrown into the black abyss of space to join the raging battle.

"Matthew Jameson, Buster Dagger taking off!" The pilot smirked adjusting his forest green gloves and closed his visor as the Buster Dagger was launched from the port side catapult.

As his comrades were launched side long out into space Kazuki Uraki's mobile suit was eased into one of the catapults and closed the visor of his red and black helmet "Kazuki Uraki, 105 Dagger launching!" he said coldly before being launched into space.

Like fireworks warheads and bullets exploded in colours of orange and off red hues, outnumbered and outgunned the crew of the Nirvana was now helpless and almost at the mercy of the enemy pirates. "I can't get close to Mister Alien to combine!" Dita cried as she was tossed aside by an explosion from anti-ship missile.

Seeing the slender frame of Meia's Dread destroying the sluggish customised Chimera's a custom high mobility GINN flew parallel and dove in on the small fighter, like a hawk diving in on its prey. "Speed means nothing if you don't have the manoeuvrability" The pirate grinned wickedly and speared the left wing on Meia's Dread with its pole arm, then kicked the fighter aside and aimed the GINN's rifle at the helpless fighter

"Meia watch out!" Barnette, Jura and Dita called out in panic and Meia looked on in horror as the Mobile Suit adjusted the firing angle of the large assault machine gun.

Not wanting to see one of his friends injured again in battle Hibiki rushed in with his yellow humanoid mecha and slammed hard against the reinforced frame of the 1017 GINN "You bastards are going to pay!" He shouted after the sparks dissipated and withdrew the Vanguard's energy sword from its sheath

The pilot of the pirate mobile suit manoeuvred his machine around the arc of the blade and grasped the arm of Hibiki's machine "You're nothing but joke." The enemy pilot said dryly, unimpressed by Hibiki's piloting skills or lack-there-of and threw the yellow Vanguard away from the Dreads "NOW DIE!" the GINN's pilot brought up the 76 mm heavy assault machine gun to bare.

"Mister Alien!" Dita cried out as she watched the Taraak youth fall away from her in vain.

As he tumbled in space helplessly and at the mercy of the enemy machine, time seemed to slow as the sudden realisation of his own mortality began to sink in and before him his life played in front of him. However time soon sped up as a bright green beam pierced through the GINN's arm "What the-?" Hibiki shouted as he leaned forward in his chair and watched as the GINN's arm erupted into a pinkish cloud of light and debris. With the mobile suit no longer an immediate threat Hibiki followed the angle of the beam to see where it had originated and saw a black and white mecha silhouetted by the sun behind it.

Not wasting anytime the new suit flew into the chaos with a squad of Dagger L mobile suits in tow, what seemed like a losing battle to the crew of the Nirvana had taken for the better but for how long they didn't know "Captain I'm detecting new signatures on our sensors!" Belvedere shouted as a series of blips appeared on her monitors.

"They've got reinforcements?" Buzam asked wondering if the situation had worsened and if they had to fight off the new contacts.

While the 105 Dagger cleared the area of the faster enemies, the Buster Dagger along with a handful of Dagger Ls used the confusion to get close to the pirate ships. "Looks like I'm going to be a hero and save the day." He said triumphantly sending the Dagger Ls to cover him while he combined the gun-launcher and the high-energy beam rifle to create a Long-Range beam rifle and fired a destructive green beam that pierced the bridge of a pirate Marseille III that was followed by several explosions within the vessel.

Showering a group of five custom Chimeras who had made an attack run on the _JELLICOE_ with laser guided missiles and severing another with a beam saber, Hilde let out a low frustrated growl "Enough chatter, let's stick to the plan." The blonde haired woman said slightly irritated by the overconfident and childish attitude of the Buster Dagger's pilot.

The raven haired man let out a sigh of displeasure "You're a real buzz kill, you know that Hilde." he quipped, dodging a blast from a heavy beam cannon that seared across the dark green laminated armour. "We can't have that now!" he fired a shot in return at the turret that had fired on him and destroyed it with a similarly green energy beam from his combinable rifle.

"Shut it Jameson or you'll find yourself in a world of hurt." The commander snapped back destroying another Mobile Armour with the Duel Dagger's beam rifle.

As explosions of red and gold detonated in the forever night of space, the Aile equipped 105 Dagger piloted by Kazuki danced around arcing beam fire however his dodging annoyed one of the enemy pilots who raised and fired a 500mm recoilless rifle at the former Earth Alliance mobile suit's cockpit without hesitation but the only thing that the round would impact on was the laminated shield that spun out of the smoke and drifted away, astonished by what had happened the startled blood-thirsty pirate immediately searched his surroundings for his prey and found what he was searching for was behind him. Not wasting time the pirate GINN reached for his heavy sword and swung for the Dagger but missed his target, by swinging wide and swung again however the armour plating on his cockpit was suddenly seared off by Kazuki's beam sabre and was now staring out into open space, the pilot then paled and began wetting his flight suit in terror as the twinkling stars were now replaced by the barrel of KMS71/J beam pistol followed by a blinding light the mercilessly engulfed and vaporised his entire being "…Hmph" the brunette watched silently as the pirate's mobile suit went limp and it's monocular eye dimmed before errupting into a ball of burning debris.

The pirates couldn't believe their eyes, their entire operation was being dismantled right before them and what was worse they were facing a force mobile suit pilots that fought like seasoned veterans and the 105 Dagger pilot were executing them without remorse. "What's going on? Who are the-gah!" A pilot cried in confusion but was cut off when his cockpit burst into flames and exploded.

"Don't let up! We can win this!" The pirate commander demanded that their forces keep pressuring their foes till they ran out of power but he already began to figure out that the 105 pilot wasn't an ordinary Natural but in fact was a Coordinator.

The other pirates however didn't see the point in throwing their lives away and pointed their machines away from the battlefield "Screw it! We're not paid for this!" A piloted shouted from a standard GINN passing the pirate commander's High Mobility custom GINN.

The pirate commander bit his bottom lip and gripped the controls of the now outdated Mobile Suit as rage began to well up inside him "DAMN COWARDS!" He raged while his subordinates left him behind and their remaining ship without any defenders.

On the bridge of the pirate cruiser which had stayed behind as the command vessel blips began disappearing from their radar and the crew were in a state of high panic when the proximity claxons went off. "Sir! We're detecting a ship! Nelson-class!" the operator cried in alarm as the shilouette appeared from behind one of the large asteroids and rotated its main batteries to focus on the lone pirate vessel.

The large and dirty captain of the vessel gritted his teeth at the dire situation "Target them with our cannons! Stop them now!" The captain of the cruiser shouted as the black battleship closed the gap between them and could begin to see the bridge clearly.

The firing officer gulped heavily when he saw an energy spike on his monitor "Too late sir! Aaarrgh!" the bridge crew cried as beams pelted the bridge until the laminated armour melted away and pierced right through the ship hitting vital systems causing an overload in the power distribution network and ruptured the oxygen tanks which split the pirate cruiser's stern and consumed the entire ship in a spectacular fireball.

The pilot of the High Mobility GINN gripped the controls of his machine hard as he bitterly tried to quell his boiling rage, not only had the operation failed so miserably but he was also made a fool in front of his own men and left him for dead, as his pride began to cloud his judgement and his knuckles burned white from grasping the controls the pirate lowered his polearm and dove for the 105 Dagger "Damn you! YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" he screamed thrusting the polearm forward and narrowly missed the cockpit of the other mobile suit and slipped under the 105 Dagger's arm, the pilot of the 1017-GINN High Mobility custom froze and realised his mistake when the Dagger yanked the polearm from the GINN's hold only to plunge the tip of the weapon directly into the chest of pirate's mobile suit. "You -caff- truly are a monstah" the pilot managed to choke out on an open channel to Kazuki before his visor became covered in a thick coating of blood and it was engulfed in an explosion.

"..." The brunette coordinator chose not to respond to the comment for he had already accepted that in order to defeat the so-called 'monsters' of the world, he'd become a 'monster' himself.

"You know that was kind of a let down, I was hoping that they'd at least try to put up more of a fight." The dark haired pilot in the Buster Dagger said taking of his helmet, disappointed about how easily the pirates were taken down but really underneath his disappointment he was really boasting.

The female pilot of the Duel Dagger let a sigh of irritation over her subbordinate's underlying arrogant tone "Don't get cocky." she reprimanded Matthew in an attempt to remind them that they still had an unknown nearby and turned her focus onto strange silver vessel "Now what are we going to do with them?" she wondered to herself.

On the bridge of the Nirvana the captain had established contact with the Ex-Earth Alliance vessel to show a sign of gratitude and to secure their own safety, given their predicament they couldn't afford another fight especially while they were trapped "Well it looks like we owe you." the captain said looking up at the monitor from her chair in the center of the bridge while not letting her guard down.

"_We were paid to stop the piracy in this area, saving you was part of the job."_ The aged captain of the Ex-Earth Alliance vessel replied with a French accent in his voice

With their former occupation being pirates the captain felt slightly unnerved "I see and might I ask whom am I addressing?" she looked up at the screen from under the hood of her room with a discerning look, wondering if they would have to fight their way out of this situation. With the Nirvana anchored by the teather they couldn't fire the ships main cannon without damaging the ship itself and the pilots of the strange machines appeared to seasoned veterans.

The captain of the Nelson-Class vessel looked up at the main monitor on the bridge. _"I'm Captain Theodore Dupont of the JELLICOE. I'm not familiar with your ship's classification."_ the man brought up an image of the Nirvana on the small monitor installed into the arm of his chair.

"I'm Magno Vivian the captain of the Nirvana we come from a planet called Mejere." she added the last part carefully.

The crew of the _JELLICOE_ all looked at each other with perplexed expressions on their faces as they continued their duties on the bridge _"Mejere? Don't you mean Mars?"_ Theodore Dupont wondered eying the captain of the other ship sskeptically.

Buzam nor could anyone else on the bridge understand what was going on, they assumed that the ship had been once again thrown across the galaxy but they had landed in an area that has never heard of Mejere and prehaps for that matter Taraak. "They don't know about Mejere? This is becoming more strange by the minute." BC muttered to herself trying to figure out whether they were close to their own solar system..

On the bridge of the _JELLICOE_ the female CIC operator turned to the aging man _"Captain the pilots are all aboard now." _she announce after the last Dagger L returned to the ship.

It was then that Magno decided to get better grasp on the situation and also to try to delay this new vessel from leaving "If it's possible we'd like to meet with you, we have a number of issues that we'd like to clear up first and we'd like to find a way to repay you for helping us." she smirked. In no way could she allow the _JELLICOE_ to leave, not without gaining important information on where they were and she refused to allow the Nirvana to be left at the mercy of other pirate groups.

"_That's fine with me, but be warned we will not tolerate any deception."_ Theodore Dupont calmly warned Magno and closed the channel between the ships and began to discuss the capabilities of the alien vessel and how it should be treated.

Buzam turned to her captain with concern etched into her features "Are you sure that we can trust them captain?" the platinum blonde wanted to know what the pirate captain was thinking about and why they were being so open about the black ship that hung off their bow.

The old woman didn't like have to depend on the stranger either but they were in a bind, if they attempted to fire their main cannon there was a risk that they would damage the Nirvana and they had to buy time for the engineers to cut through the metal teathers. "At this point we don't have a choice, until we find out more about where we are we'll play along." Magno sighed getting out of her captain's chair to head for the shuttle bay.

Down in the hangar Hibiki was fixed to the seat of his machine and went over the events of the battle, every attack he made was evaded and countered by those other pirates, and then there was that pilot the one that had outclassed him and had him beat _'You're nothing but a joke.'_ The words of the pirate captain echoed in his mind and it pained him every time he heard it.

Standing in front of Hibiki's yellow Vanguard the red-haired girl, Dita had become concerned for the Taraak male after seeing him sit in the open cockpit for almost an hour without moving even the slightest "Mister Alien is everything okay? Mister Alien-" she asked climbing up the ladder but froze when she saw Hibiki's agonized expression

"Damn it all!" the spiked haired youth growled balling a fist and slammed his fist into side of the cockpit, frustrated at his pathetic perfomance on the battlefield he hadn't felt this bad since Miss Gascogne sacrificed herself.

**Earth Alliance Forces Special Intelligence Bureau Station**

Located high above the Earth in an unimportant area of space a lone satellite space station used by the Earth Alliance remained mostly unnoticed by all of the large organisations however there were some that couldn't help but notice. "I want you to make sure that there are no information leaks on the projects, not even that fool Djibril is to know of the Jörmungandr." an elderly man said in demanding voice from the shadows of the large monitoring room inside the station.

The woman sitting in the command chair looked to the darkness with irritation, wondering what right had a lowly ship captain of a splinter faction had to make such demands of her "Who do you think you're talking to Captain Bucard?" She growled at the old man.

The old man stepped from the shadows and pulled a cigar from his well pressed Eurasian Federation uniform which had the O.M.N.I. Enforcer patches removed "I'm talking to a woman who thinks she can manipulate the fate of the world." he said apathetically as lit the cigar with an engraved brass lighter.

"Watch what you say Bucard, I'm in charge here not you." The woman didn't take to the elderly man's insolent tone too kindly.

Letting out a puff of smoke the old man turned his attention to the young dark haired woman in the chair, his eyes still uncaring of what the woman hoped to achieve or what she may represent "That is where you are wrong my dear." he corrected "We both hold the same cards of power in information and in strength don't forget that it was my idea to create Blue Cosmos and it was my family who had the idea to form Logos, that being said the information you have here is available to me." he stated to the woman pacing around the room and watching each monitor carefully.

"Then why don't you make sure it isn't leaked?" She inquired with honest curiousity.

The man smiled inwardly, the woman in the chair was starting to become more co-operative and if she accepted his next proposal, she would be under his influence "Because I don't control it. If I started to take control my position would be compromised and I would be exposed to those who would want to see me dead." he reasoned with her "If you ensure that my activities are kept hidden from those individuals, I'll see to it that you're operations are well supplied." he gestured to one of the monitors that showed the security footage from the main hangar of the hidden Earth Alliance outpost.

The woman raised an eyebrow at what she was seeing, not only was she being given a new mobile suit but also a pilot or considering he was wearing handcuffs, a prisoner of sorts "Should I consider this to be a gift or a bribe?" she prodded, interested in the overall meaning of the 'present'

The old man turned his back to the image of the ZGMF-X12A Testament and the 'reformed' Ash Gray. "Consider it as proof of my word." he replied reassuringly, implying that she had nothing to be concerned with.

She considered every word that Bucard had said but still couldn't believe his audacity "Before I even give you my answer? How shrewd...but your work does indeed intrigue me, I look forward to seeing how you intend to use them." she turned the chair away from the captain and returned to her work.

_'I look forward to seeing how you will die Matisse'_ The elderly man thought to himself as he left the room.

**Ex-Earth Alliance vessel, **_**JELLICOE**_**; L 4 – Mendel Colony**

After having transferring to the Nelson-class vessel the captain and commander of the _Nirvana_ sat inside drab yet well furnished cabin that belonged to Theodore Dupont who had his hands folded infront of his face and looked at the women pensively "I find what you are saying hard to accept. Saying that you're from alternate reality is to say the least preposterous." he tried to wrap his mind around what they were saying, everything that he had heard from them sounded like it was straight from science fiction but truth be told so did aliens however they soon became fact after George Glenn had discovered Evidence 01.

"However the facts are there." Magno stared at the man before her however she to was having a hard time understanding what had happened, was this another hidden power of the Paksis? She just didn't know.

The aged man sat back in his seat and placed his hands on the arms of his chair and met the elderly captain's gaze with equal intensity "It doesn't mean I have to accept them." he replied simply.

Magno let out an exasperated sigh, she was getting nowhere with the discussion fast and it seemed that if this captain wasn't going to listen then there was no need to ask them for assisstance "I see. Then we'll take our leave, we wouldn't want to trouble you any further." she eased herself out of the chair and was grateful for the low gravity on the ship.

Theodore ran a hand through his hair and sat forward, placing his hands on the desk "I may not accept the facts but I am not as obstinate as those in the Earth Alliance or the PLANT and unlike them no one here will attempt to use your ship for their own purposes." he warned them that the alternatives weren't any better.

The commander stopped and raised an eyebrow, curious about where he was taking the conversation and what he hoped to achieve by stopping them "If you don't me asking, just what are you playing at Mister Dupont?" she probed while both women took their seats again.

Again he folded his hands in front of his face and stared at them as his mind worked through a prosposal that would benefit both parties "In exchange for information and our assisstance, I'll gain is the expertise of your pilots." he tapped a button on his desk and the screen that hung near his bed switched on showing the battle between the _Nirvana_'s pilots and the pirates, the women were stunned by how he had come across the images. "Even though they are piloting mobile armours, they have the potential to become competent mobile suit pilots. To this end we're willing to give them the proper training." he offered the two representatives hoping to grease the wheels of diplomacy a little

"You're being awfully generous. So generous that I can't help but feel there's something you're not telling us." the elder female captain said slyly trying to drag the real reason for his overwhelming generosity out of her male counterpart.

Theodore let out a sigh "Although we have the numbers in machines, we lack the number in actual pilots." he stated matter-of-factly, with their current number of pilots the could only field two-thirds of their current forces although the battle strength was above average, the captain personally felt that it would be better to have the _JELLICOE_ and the group they were supporting at full strength. "Other than that I just wish to atone for the atrocities that I helped commit in the last war. With your pilot's aiding us, they'll be helping you to understand what is happening around the world and being aiding you in your search to find a way home." he emphasized the last part but there was still some lingering doubt in his mind about the ship being from another dimension.

The hooded female captain nodded in agreement after being satisfied by Dupont's explanation but still kept her suspiscions "As long as you up hold your end of the deal, I don't see why we can't help you out." she looked up from underneath her hood carefully evalluating him.

"CAPTAIN?" Buzam shouted in disbelief.

Magno raised her right hand to settle her commander down "It's all right BC, they hold the cards at the moment and we can't risk making enemies of anyone at the moment." she pointed out that they weren't in the ideal position to negotiate properly with the _Nirvana _still trapped and besides having her Dread pilots properly trained would prove to beneficial

"After choosing your best pilots for training, they're to report to the our hangar tomorrow at 0600 hours, we'll have a shuttle waiting to pick up the candidates." The aging man stated matter-of-factly as he moved from the brought out a plastic blue bottle filled with whiskey and placed it on his red oak desk.

The captain got up from the armchair that she had been sitting in and headed over to the door that the former Earth Alliance captain held open for her. "You're too kind Mister Dupont." She looked at the elderly man with a sly smirk and exited the room with the commander closely behind her. After the commander and captain had left the admiral walked over to the whiskey he had poured earlier and took a sip before turning to the recording of the battle that took place outside of the Mendel colony which caused a lot of collateral damage to it and hoped that it wasn't too damaged for whatever plans the chairman had installed for it.

"Captain, can we really trust them?" BC was still uncertain about the motives of the man that they had been talking to.

The elderly woman walked down the dull grey passage with her cane clacking against the metal deck plating "I know how you feel but we stand more to gain by helping them for now. Besides I think it'll do the crew some good to have somewhere to stay and not worry about being attacked for awhile."

"If you say so Captain." Buzam said taking one last look behind her and at the door to the captain's quarters, still unsure of whether what they were doing was right.

In a darkened room filled with the pilots of the ex-Earth Alliance vessel, the first officer of the _JELLICOE_ stood in front of a large illuminated board with the current orders for the mercenary group in his hands "As you've undoubtedly noticed in the report, we shall be training a select few of the silver ship's pilots in the operation of mobile suits. In exchange we'll have another ship to deploy from in an emergency. " he summarized the deal between the two ships and paused so that the crew could voice their opinions knowing that some of the more oversexed pilots would be more than willing to help the all female crew of the _Nirvana_ get better acquainted with the cockpit of a mobile suit.

That's when Matthew Jameson decided to added his two cents worth into the briefing "So we're going to be training a ship full of women to pilot Mobile Suits? I can't wait to start!" the playboy said eagerly leaning on the forward on the back of the chair in front of him.

The commander and the female pilots of the Nelson-class vessel weren't entirely impressed by his outburst "That's where you're wrong. Lieutenant Commander Hilde Ravensbrück you shall be in charge of training the candidates." the second in command burst the dark haired male's bubble of getting close and personal with the _Nirvana_'s personell

The blonde haired woman nodded accepting her new orders "Roger."

The XO turned his attention to the playboy and the young coordinator "Lieutenants Jameson and Uraki, you'll board a transport at Copernicus and be deployed to ZAFT's Carpentaria base. Recently the Supreme Council has received threats from a terrorist organization that still support Patrick Zala's goal and are currently demanding that Gilbert Durandal steps down as Chairman." he brought up an image of the former Chairman and several windows of texts that contained the various threats "Although the location of one of their cells has been narrowed down to Australia their exact location remains unknown, because of this the PLANTs doesn't want to accidentally incite them by carelessly moving their troops into possible hostile regions which would lead to unnesessary violence." he stated the dangerous situation that ZAFT had been placed in and how they didn't want to cause any civillian casualties and changed the image to show the southern regions of the continent the two pilots were going to be deployed in.

Kazuki who was already mentally preparing himself for the mission looked up from his folded arms to his superior "What equipment will we be using?" he asked in his usual calm and cool voice.

Nodding the commander walked up to the row Kazuki and Matthew were sitting in and handed them their requisition forms. "This is strictly a reconnaissance mission and you will not be using mobile suits. You'll be equipped with silenced side arms, flashbangs, one off-road vehicle, cameras, radio and standard survival equipment. Because of the delicate nature of what you're being asked to do, if things take a turn for the worse you'll be on your own. You're to leave for Copernicus tomorrow at 0700 hours, do not be late." he eyed them carefully and held an accussing gaze at Matthew Jameson for his noteriety of his tardiness "You're all dismissed." the commander saluted the pilots and turned the lights back on before he left the room in front of his subbordinates to let them know he had nothing more to add.

"Looks like we'll miss out on the fun." the dark haired Lieutenant rubbed his head and let out a sigh of frustration at not being able to see all of the women coming over to the ship to train.

Kazuki although was glad that he had a mission, wasn't at all happy with the person he was being assigned to "It's because of that attitude, that they put you on this mission." he said casting a warning glare at his comrade, letting Jameson know that his laid back behaviour wouldn't be tolerated on the mission

The other Lieutenant let out a chuckle at the comment "At least it's better than acting gloomy all the time." he replied and draped an arm over the coordinator's shoulder and glanced into Kazuki's eyes with a knowing look "We all know that you turned on your squad during the final assualt on the PLANTs and to be honest we're glad that you did, those bastards had it coming anyway for going with those crazy orders in the first place. I mean come on there's a big super weapon pointing at you and you're told to ig-YEOWWW!" he howled in pain after feeling a boot crushing down on his foot and swore he could hear his toes cracking underneath the pressure and floated back into a wall cradling his injured foot.

"That's enough out of you." Hilde said with venom and turned to the coordinator hoping that she managed to stop the conversation before it became an irreversable issue "Sorry about that Kazuki he said too much." she apologised to the brunette for Jameson's lack of tact on a delicate matter and to her Kazuki was like a younger brother and she didn't want anyone to put him through the pain he felt during that battle again.

However the coordinator just looked back at her coldly with uncaring eyes before turning his attention to the hall "What's done is done." he said with finality and kicked off the deck and headed to the elevator.

**Ending - Hoshi No Tobira by Satori Negishi**

Trapped in a universe alien to them however there are some things that remain the same no matter where you are, and what is this that moves in the shadows? Is it friend? Is it a foe? or is it something completely different? Only time will tell. Next on Vandread SEED Destiny; Under New Skies. Continue the legacy 105 Dagger!


	2. Under New Skies

**Disclaimer: Vandread is property of** **Gonzo and Media Factory animation studios**

**Gundam SEED is property of Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment.**

**Kazuki Uraki and all other OCs mentioned are owned by yours truly.**

**A/N:** It is time for Phase 02 of VSD, already I am getting notices of people faving the story and I think it is because of the last chapter that a few actually have noticed my previous attempt at a Gundam SEED and Vandread crossover (ie: Vandread SEED). In response to your review and without revealing too much Vandenbz; is that Kazuki won't be operating the 105 anymore and Meia won't be seeing Mobile Suit combat until the next arc and thus doesn't have an official mobile suit of choice as of yet. With that out of the way here is the next chapter and please after reading it leave some creative critique.

Sincerely, D-I

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**Vandread SEED Destiny – Phase 02: Under New Skies**

For most of the Bloody Valentine War the L 1 area had been site of much blood shed, destruction and had seen the first deployment of Neutron Jammer Cancellers in a combat situation, with these devices in place renderring communication and radar inoperable it made the area perfect for a number of groups and organizations to hide from their enemies. Using the debris of the remains of the Ygddrasil space station as cover to help masked their presence, the _Nirvana_ and the _JELLICOE_ sat side-by-side as a small box like shuttle disembarked from the black ex-Earth Alliance battleship to the alien vessel to pick up the candidates.

Waiting for the shuttle to arrive with a sullen look etched on his face Hibiki let out a low growl, he couldn't believe that he was being forced to go through 'training' and what made it worse was that the instructor was a woman. "GAH! Why are we doing this? I'm already the best pilot on this ship, I don't need training and especially from a woman." he said arrogantly crossing his arms.

Jura who was sitting on a small container raised an eyebrow "I wouldn't say that if I were you, those guys we faced weren't amateurs and you were nearly shot down yourself." the blonde scoffed at Hibiki's almighty attitude while recalling his lack-luster performance during the last battle.

"We all did poorly out there yesterday, not just Hibiki. I think that if we can learn as much as we can so we'll be able to come up with a formation to beat them." Meia interrupted trying to put it in away that'll get the young Taraak male to settle down.

However Hibiki's stubborn pride wasn't satisfied and he just glowered at girls then looked away with a grunt "Hmph! I DON'T NEED THEIR TRAINING! ME AND MY PARTNER CAN DO JUST FINE OUT THERE JUST YOU WATCH!" he shouted angrily

Exiting the shuttle, a tall middle-aged blonde woman in a Eurasian Federation uniform with the patches removed looked down at Hibiki from the top step with her arms folded "Any jackass can recklessly swing a sword about, however it takes a real pilot to know how to use it effectively. The battlefield is not a place to play the hero or to satisfy your own emotions and you should already know that by now, for as your friend already said that you were almost killed." Hibiki gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists as he unwilling accepted the woman's words, while Dita could do nothing but worry for the Tarrak male she called affectionately 'Mister Alien'.

"HEY! OLD WOMAN! HIBIKI WAS TRYING HIS VERY BEST OUT THERE!" Misty shouted at Hilde.

Unlike Jura who usually snaps at a comment like that, the former Earth Forces pilot gave Misty a warning glare and caused her to take a few steps back, putting the fear of god into the dark blue haired girl "Listen to me, doing your best isn't good enough out there and with an outburst like that I assume you're not supposed to be here." she turned away from the crimson eyed girl and focused her attention onto the pilots "We've wasted enough time here so grab your bags and stow them aboard safely underneath your seats. MOVE IT!" she shouted and the group hurried aboard the shuttle.

**Opening - Ignited by TM Revolution**

**ZAFT FORCES - Carpentaria Base**

Carpentaria Base, the first major terristerial base that was established by the ZAFT Forces on May 20, CE 70 and located in the PLANT-aligned Oceania Union and it was from here that ZAFT dominated much of the Pacific region during the Bloody Valentine War however with the Treaty of Junius in place the forces had been reduced and was being transferred to the PLANT homeland in preparations for final preparations of the official opening of Armory One. Inside one of the large white-wash briefing rooms, two mercenaries sat at one of the many desks that littered the room and watched as the base commander went over the information that ZAFT had already collected. "Although we've managed to narrow down their location to the southern regions of Australia, however we are still unable to locate them exactly, a problem caused by most of the sympathizers being ex-military who know our systems inside and out." the commander of the base brought up an image of the southern areas of the continent they were on and then brought up several dossiers on the screen behind him."To this end we called on a group that has yet to make a name for themselves, which will allow you to move around more freely than anyone else and won't immediately draw their attention when asking questions about them."

The dark haired Natural let out a huff and leaned over next to his comrade "Did he just call us a bunch of nobodies?" he said to Kazuki in a barely audible voice.

The brunette looked at Matthew and disregarded what he had said before turning his attention back to the base commander. "We'll need detailed information on the surrounding area area." He said in a formal tone.

"When will you quit ignoring me?" Matthew muttered letting out a sigh and folding his arms across his chest.

The commander raised an eyebrow at the mercenary's request "Might I ask why?" the ZAFT officer wanted to know what Kazuki had in mind.

"We're dealing with soldiers who have gone rogue and not average terrorists, they'll be looking for somewhere that can be converted to house and repair their equipment, additionally they'll need a steady power flow so we need to take into consideration power plants, dams, wind farms or solar energy facilities." Kazuki stated matter-of-factly getting out of his seat and putting it back under the desk.

The based commander nodded in agreement, he nor anyone had openly thought of it that way and had been treating them like nothing more than terrorists who hide amongst civillians or in mountainous terrain. "I'll see to it that you get the materials that you requested, good luck." the officer said while gathering his notes together and watched as the two mercenaries head outside.

"Looks like we'll be here awhile, however I'm not keen on the idea of only having you for company." the dark haired man placed his arms behind his head. Exiting the building Kazuki glanced back over his shoulder back to the other Lieutenant and said nothing, truth be told he'd prefer to be doing the mission on his own or at least with someone who didn't act like a shameless pervert.

Taking the information that had been requested by Kazuki from a ZAFT green coat, the middle aged man nodded after finally understanding the conclusion that his young comrade had come too "We should get going then, I only hope that you're right about what you said earlier, otherwise we're screwed if you're wrong." Mattew made a playful jab at the coordinator but Kazuki had to quietly agreed with that statement and started the engine. "Still I'd prefer to be on that ship right now." Matthew let out a longing sigh while putting his feet up on the dashboard and looked a the blue midday sky, he really didn't want to spend god knows how long with someone who didn't know the meaning of fun even if it bit him in the arse.

**L 1 - Yggdrasil Station debris field**

Floating in the empty void of space, not to far from the ruin remains of the station that once housed the ship that belonged to the first coordinator George Glenn, several Dagger Ls led by a Long Dagger through an obstacle course that ran through the surrounding debris, the purpose of the excersize was to train them how to maneuvour the machines while avoiding collision with obstacles however some didn't readily accept this simple and mundane training, albiet out of their own frustration towards the machine they were piloting and how difficult it was to control their mobile suit. "Damn it! This thing is too complicated, I can't understand it at all!" Hibiki complained from the cockpit of his Dagger L "Why do I even need to learn this stuff anyway? I'm perfectly fine piloting my partner the way I usually do."

"Yeah! and I can't even combine with Mister Alien in one of these!" Dita chimed in which caused the Taraak male to groan disdainfully at her comment.

Hilde Ravensbruck who was the instructor responsible for their training frowned at their complaints "The way you usually pilot is too aggressive and isn't focused, rushing at the enemy won't always work and you need to learn to defend and know when to retreat otherwise it will lead to death of yourself but to those that you're trying to protect. In short you lack the basic instincts of an actual pilot and without them you're nothing but fodder for the more seasoned pilots" she reprimanded Hibiki who froze at her words which dug into him like blades of ice and remember the last battle he had with a Harvest fleet. In that battle he was filled with such arrogance and was sure that he could beat them in the opening of the battle but was soon filled with rage, a move which nearly cost the life of Jura and had cost the life of Miss Gascogne.

Unlike Dita, Hibiki and a few other pilots who were participating in the training, Meia had adapted to the controls fairly quickly after recognizing that the layout was almost similiar to their Dread's before they had been changed by the Paksis and it was probably for this reason why Dita was having so much trouble mastering her machine "I may agree that he still has a lot to learn but that was going a little far." the light blue haired young woman interrupted, opening a private channel between herself and the squadron commander from the _JELLICOE_.

The blonde haired woman piloting the Long Dagger let out a sigh "People like him either learn from their mistakes or are forced to face the truth. In situations such as this, it is the duty of the instructor to make sure the students see their weaknesses before they make any fatal mistakes on the battlefield." she spoke from experience after seeing and hearing about many of her comrades die on the battlefield, because they made fatal mistakes due to their hastened training. Meia who had been a commander of her own squadron and apart of the Magno Pirate group from the start and was also pretty stubborn herself, understood the method the instructor was using and for all intensive purposes would serve well but it would also be hard on everyone participating

Meanwhile on the _Nirvana_ the captain and its commander had been going through the recent history of the system they were in and had the feeling that their troubles were only beginning. "It would appear this world is fairly aggressive, wouldn't you agree BC?" the elderly woman asked rhetorically but also wanted to hear the opinion of her first officer.

The platinum blonde woman nodded in agreement and watched the progress of their pilots on the monitor, each one dressed in the familiar yellow 'grunt' pilot suits worn by the Earth Forces however Jura had refused to wear one proclaiming that they were 'yucky looking' and 'extremely tacky', "It would appear that way. It doesn't take much for them to go ahead and use nuclear missiles, EMP devices and large microwave based weapons, if this is any indication of how they act then we'd best keep our contact with them to a bare minimum and best try to stay out of any conflicts that may arise." The commander summed up all of the lethal weapons that had been used from the Bloody Valentine incident up to the Battle of Jachin Due however it is so much as that they were used that had her worried it was the actual reasons as to why that they were used.

The captain looked to Buzam from the corner of her eye and then closed her eyes as she mused on BC's words "I don't think we'll have the luxury of that option if things heat up and another war starts however that wasn't what caught my attention." The captain said slyly casting her gaze back at the commander.

"It wasn't?" Belvedere chimed in turning back in her chair to look at her superiors.

Amarone then suddenly became interested in the conversation and looked back at her captain with eagerness evident in her eyes "What was it captain?"

Magno simply sighed at the amount of questions being thrown at her, although she was glad that they were interested in what she had to say, it was also kind of tiring for a woman of her advanced years "Wouldn't you say that the situation between this 'Earth Alliance' and the PLANTs are exactly like that back on Taraak and Mejere?" Everyone went silent as they saw an inkling of truth in her words. "No matter what universe it is, humans will always find a reason to go to war." she stated calmly and her words of wisdom made the air on the bridge too uncomfortable to bear.

**Earth Alliance Agamemnon-class vessel, PERIANDER**

In his spartan cabin aboard the wedged-shaped carrier, Bucard sat at his oak wood desk sifting through the recent reports from the Ledonia base used to create the Earth Alliance's Biological CPUs also known as Extendeds, pilots who were trained and designed to fight on the same level as coordinators through the use of drugs and other questionable methods but with in this program was another clandestine operation running through it that used coordinators and outside of the combat coordinator development program known as 'Circus'. To avoid unwarranted attention from the scientist from either program from carelessly digging too deeply into this personal project of Bucard's, the man who inspired Logos to create Blue Cosmos had named the project: Third Stage Extended Humans however in actuallity it was producing Extended Combat Coordinators. "These are the results then?" the man said looking to the upper right of his personal computer's monitor at one of the scientists involved with the program. "I want you to increase their effectiveness by fifteen percent and I want at least twenty of them transferred to the Jörmungandr." he reclined back in his chair.

_"But sir! We can't possibly guarantee that we can improve it by that much, we're pushing them as much as we can and even if we did manage to pull it off they'd be useless by the time we're finished."_ The scientist warned of the possible failure of the experiment if they pushed their 'volunteers' too hard.

The aging man leaned forward and glared at the scientist with his ice blue orbs "Then push them so they're on equal terms with the data presented, I want them to be as strong as previous subjects however make sure the mental conditioning is permenant, otherwise you'll meet the same fate as your predecessor. Isn't that right Alpha?" he looked at the first successful product that the project had produced with a sinister grin on his face and then at the scientist who had begun sweating.

The Extended Combat Coordinator nodded his head slightly and starred back at the captain of the _PERIANDER_ with cold and emotionless eyes "Yes captain." his voice was devoid of emotion and sounded totally subservient to George Valois Bucard.

_"I-I understand s-sir, I-I'll try my best sir."_ The scientist stuttered while he dreaded to be torn limb-from-limb and used as a target for the next batch of extended test subjects.

The elderly man smiled satisfactorily at the scientist's willingness to co-operate and his features lost all sign of murderous intent. "See that you do doctor." The captain closed the channel and turned off the monitor of his personal computer before turning to the remaining Extended Combat Coordinator with an considered the young man for a second "It would make things go more smoothly if we knew how 'Epsilon' or for that matter how Gai broke their conditioning." he eased himself from his chair and headed for the door. "From now on we have to proceed more carefully and not expose ourselves too soon, Librarian is still in its infancy and thus still too weak." As the captain made his way to the bridge for his rounds, the wedged-shaped vessel continued its path in high orbit above the bright blue planet called Earth carrying inside it many secrets within secrets into an unknown future.

**Ending - Hoshi No Tobira by Satori Negishi**

We are all shaped by our past and some cannot escape their past. As the crew of the Hibiki strives to become a better pilot and overcome his weaknesses, Kazuki relives a past event that he sooner wishes to forget. Next on Vandread SEED Destiny; Wounds that Run Deep. Strike Dagger cut through the pain of the past.

_Please note that although George Valois Bucard references Gai Murakumo that Gai was not part of the Extended Combat Coordinator program but was once a Combat Coordinator who had broken his mental conditioning._


	3. Wounds That Run Deep

**Disclaimer: Vandread is property of** **Gonzo and Media Factory animation studios**

**Gundam SEED is property of Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment.**

**Kazuki Uraki and all other OCs are owned by yours truly.**

**A/N:** Phase 03 is here and in this chapter not only do we get to see a little of Kazuki Uraki's past, but hopefully it will be the last we see of these small chapters. As per usual whether it is good or bad please leave your feedback and tell me what you thought of the chapter.

Sincerely, D-I

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**Vandread SEED Destiny – Phase 03: Wounds That Run Deep**

**Opening - Ignited by TM Revolution**

**Ex-Earth Alliance vessel **_**JELLICOE**_**; Location: L 1 - Yggdrasil Station debris field**

Weeks had passed since the training in the use of mobile suits had begun and progress was slowly being made and were seeing promising results from the students. Aboard the bridge of the _JELLICOE_ the commanding officer was recieving the weekly report from the tutor he placed in charge of their education who was now aboard the _Nirvana_ "What do you think of the candidates?" he asked the woman who appeared on the main monitor attached to the ceiling of the vessel's bridge.

The blonde haired Lieutenant Commander uploaded the video recording from the recent trial run they had finished to the computer banks of the refitted Nelson-class which soon appeared next the image of Hilde Ravensbrück _"Although Hibiki Tokai is still having trouble with executing complex maneouvours, he is improving quite significantly and the same can be said Dita Liebely however with a slight more difficulty. Jura Elden and the other candidates are proceeding as expected of rookie mobile suit pilots but the one who's performing above expectations is Meia Gisborn who seems to be quite the natural mobile suit pilot and her score comes pretty close to Rena Imelia's."_ She stated remembering the score the ace pilot known as 'Sakura Burst'. Although Rena Imelia was a Natural, it was said that she had had hand-eye coordination comparable to that of a Coordinator's and rumoured that she might be able to pilot a mobile suit with an OS meant for Coordinator's.

The captain looked from the recoding to the lieutenant commander "So she's ready to be deployed?" he questioned bringing his hand to his chin and considered the female pilot from the large silver ship carefully.

_"I wouldn't recommend it."_ Hilde shook her head from side-to-side, adamant about her decision _"I don't want her to be deployed just yet, I want her to go through the whole course and I don't want it to look like I'm playing favourites or going easy on anyone, it would be best to continue with the training and make sure that her results aren't just a fluke."_ she said sternly, by no means was she going to send out any of the trainees before they were absolutely ready and if it looked like she was playing favourites it would be detrimental to their morale as well as their performance as a unit.

The aging man nodded, understanding the point she was making to him "Very well, I will wait to hear the end results." he said confidently to her.

"_Roger that sir! Lieutenant Commander Ravensbrück out."_ The woman saluted Captain Theodore Dupont then leaned forward and deactivated the link between the ships.

The aging captain pushed himself out of his chair and floated over to the signaller of the _JELLICOE_, eager to see the results of the candidate's progress in their training and to evaluate their combat readiness for himself "Bring up the current results that she transmitted." He ordered.

The communications officer acknowledged the order and began typing away on the console in front of her "Yes sir." after a moment of waiting the central monitor lit up with steel blue coloured bar graphs, showing each of the pilot's progress results.

The captain floated back to his chair and began looking through Meia Gisborn's results from the monitor attached to the side of his chair "Looks like she wasn't lying, these results aren't half bad." Although the results were below that of the Earth Alliance's mobile suit ace pilot Rena Imelia, they were still none-the-less impressive for someone who had only just started and had no previous mobile suit experience, as far as they knew.

"Are you considering on deploying her in the near future?" the commander asked looking over the captain's shoulder, wondering what his superior officer had in mind for the pilots that were currently being trained.

Theodore Dupont turned to his subordinate and smirked "As a matter-of-fact I am, we'll deploy Miss Elden and Miss Gisborn with Lieutenants Jameson and Uraki once they've finished their current mission." he opened a few other contracts that had been offered to their small group, most of which were either undercover missions, special operations or security contracts.

"But we don't know when it'll end though, the client just wants us to send a team to locate the terrorist's base and continue monitoring them." the commander reminded Theodore of the details of the contract that ZAFT had set for them.

The captain eased back in his seat and turned off the monitor on the arm-rest as he looked out to the debris field with a pensive look. "If the training ends before the mission we'll have them on standby on the _JELLICOE_ and we'll keep Miss Liebely, Mister Tokai and Lieutenant Commander Ravensbrück on the Nirvana until Miss Elden and Miss Gisborn have departed for the surface." Captain Dupont had already had thought of how he was going to deploy them even before the discussion, however the results of their training just reaffirmed the planned set up for the new pilots.

Feeling that he had deserved to reward himself for a job well done and to take his mind off of the stagnant boredom, the captain absently fumbled underneath his uniform and pulled out a stainless steel, hip flask that hung around his neck from a small chain. Noticing the captain's movements and the grey, silver like container the commander frowned at his superior's actions "Sir…you do know that drinking alcohol while on duty is prohibited?" the commander warned his superior.

Dupont sweat dropped and his mind went blank after being caught by his subordinate, not wanting to lose face the captain looked around to see if he could find some excuse and slowly began to hide the flask in his shirt again. "Err…I wasn't drinking it…I was merely savouring the aroma…Open a channel to the PLANT homeland, inform them that I want a status report on our team in the Oceania Union." his tone changed as he began barking out orders again and to divert attention from himself, those that understood what the captain was trying to do chuckled inaudibly as they executed his orders.

**Magno's Pirates vessel **_**Nirvana**_**; Location: L 1 - Yggdrasil Station debris field**

Meanwhile on the ship from the alien battleship, Dita sat picking at her food in the mess hall with a fork and a depressed expression on her face. "I really don't like this training, it's so boring and I won't able to combine with Mister Alien in those machines." the red haired girl complained to Meia who was sipping a mug of black coffee while thumbing through a thin pearl-white personal information device. Ever since they had arrived in this strange universe she was spending less-and-less time with Hibiki and to her what was worse she hasn't been able to combine her Dread with his Vanguard at all and was starting to miss him. Additionally she was finding it hard to the adjust to using basic controls again.

Jura who was sitting at a table across from Dita and Meia, let out a sigh out of irritation. It had been weeks since they had started their training and Dita was still complaining about it. "Well you weren't that much of a pilot before our Dreads changed Dita and now it's like you've gone back to square one." The blonde haired woman pointed out bluntly, for it was indeed a fact that the cockpits of these so-called 'mobile suits' did look like their old Dreads and the controls did function in very much the same fashion however it was these kinds of controls that the red haired girl had trouble with.

"Awww...don't say that!" The girl whined childishly, she hated how Jura could be so hard and forthright about the faults of other people while remaining so aloof "But I really want to combine with Mister Alien that's all." she reiterated what she had said earlier but this time sounding longing and distant.

Jura faulted seeing how hurt Dita looked and waved her hand dismissively at the red haired UFO fanatic "Alright, alright. I get it you want to combine with him. Geeze you're such a kid sometimes." she said thoughtlessly and turned her attention to the Dread team commander "Hey Meia what are you doing?" the blonde wondered and walked over to see what was so interesting.

Meia lowered her cup, placing it in front of her and out of the way before looking at Jura. "If we're going to be fighting alongside these people, I want to gather as much information on them as possible." she said in a serious tone, with all of the training they had been doing lately it was only now that she had the opportunity to actually investigate the data that they had been provided with to help them become more familiar with their 'surroundings' and adapt, however so far she's found that this universe they were in; was perhaps just as dangerous as the one they had left behind them. Now she was reviewing the personal information of the _JELLICOE_'s crew, which had been easily hacked by Parfet through the aid of Pyoro, and so far found the majority of their crew to have rather humble and modest backgrounds while only a few actually stood out.

Dita who had been watching the conversation from the start of the had read some of the text on one of the pilots "Ah...Look at that." she pointed to the information on Kazuki Uraki and the three Mejeren's began to read the data in front of them.

"It looks like there isn't a lot on him and but the information that's there treat him more of a piece of equipment rather than a person." Barnette added who had just arrived after finishing her rounds in _Nirvana_'s Registry and been looking over Meia's other shoulder.

Dita sat back in her seat directly opposite of Meia "Why would they do that?" she wondered aloud, with a blank look on her face and placed a finger on her chin as she tried to understand why a someone would be treated like that.

Feeling crowded the light blue haired, young woman lowered the personal information device and "I don't know why, however that mean's they're hiding something. But what?" The fact they were willing to train them to use 'mobile suits' and they were treating one of their pilots as an object, couldn't help make her feel suspicious about their motives. Were they trying to make up for what they had done in the previous war or was there something else underneath it? There was too many variables at work and that meant they all had to tread lightly.

On men's side of the ship inside the men's quarters, which had originally been the ship's brig, Hibiki shuffled exhaustedly to his bed before collapsing on top of it and let out a groan as he clung to his pillow. "This sucks! Who'd have thought piloting something like that was so hard." he muttered aloud.

Hibiki's arrival into the converted brig had not gone unnoticed and the two other Taraak males made their way over to Hibiki's cell and sat on the bed opposite the youth. Like Dita, Hibiki had been complaining about the training he was recieving however his complaints were for a different reason altogther. "You've been complaining like this for some time." Duelo the ship's physician and also a native of the men's planet of Taraak, stated matter-of-factly to the youth while maintaining a neutral and calm tone.

"Yeah you really need to let it go pal." Bart leaned forward added, like Duelo and Hibiki the blonde male also came from the planet Taraak and he acted as the ship's navigator however unlike the other two he couldn't help shake the feeling that he was just being used by the Mejeren women.

Hibiki sat up and refused to make eye contact with them, prefering that they didn't interfere with his business. "You guys wouldn't understand." he said with a sigh turning his head but the two just sat there quietly and waited him out until finally he balled his hands in fists and clenched them tightly before he spoke "It's like back on Tarak. I'm unable to do anything because of my status and I feel so helpless." he admitted, feeling slightly embarassed.

Duelo eyed the youth carefully "Is that all?" the doctor pressured the Taraak boy to elaborate further on why he was having a hard time accepting that he was being treated like a trainee.

"WHAT DO MEAN THAT'S ALL?" Hibiki fumed hitting his crossed legs so he wouldn't wind up punching Duelo in the jaw.

Bart decided to direct some of the heat towards himself "Just because you're not fighting doesn't mean you're not doing anything at all." The heir to Garsus Foods interjected. Unlike himself, Hibiki was in fact doing more than his fair share by training but all Bart could do was just make sure that the ship was drifting with the debris and maintaining a stable orbit which made him slightly envious while at the same time fed his uncertainty of where he stood with the crew.

"BUT EVERYONE ON THE SHIP IS DEPENDING ON ME! I SHOULD HAVE DEFEATED THOSE GUYS EASILY!" The truth and true reason of his frustration was laid to bare, it wasn't the fact that he wasn't fighting that had been the problem it was the fact that he had been utterly defeated in combat.

Bart leered "Did you ever stop to think that this is just about your pride?" Like every male on Taraak, one's sense of pride was important as it allowed them to know where they stood and was a powerful tool used by the polticians on their planet however he had never seen so much pride or ego in one person until he had met Hibiki.

Like Bart, Duelo had reached the same conclusion however he knew it wasn't enough to get to the heart of the problem with a person as stubborn as Hibiki but you also had to warn them of the dangers "If you're not careful your pride could lead to trouble and not just for yourself but for others as well." he tried to make the spiked haired youth understand what he was saying.

Although he comprehended what they were saying he still couldn't ignore his pride as both as a pilot and as a Taraak male "I know that but I can't help but feel frustrated when I'm compared to them." he looked away, still the fact he had to train and that he was being compared to others.

**Stuart Highway, South Australia; Oceania Union**

Driving an army green Ereka made its way along the dark and deserted highway, while jolting ever so often as it hit a pot hole or crease in the middle of the desert road. As Kazuki slept peacefully in the passenger's seat, dressed in his civillian clothes which consisted of a pair of black combat boots, denim jeans and fingerless gloves, a white t-shirt and tan leather jacket, Matthew who taken over driving for the evening couldn't help but stare at a small container that protruded from the coordinator's jacket pocket, as he looked from the corner of his eye he could see that there were two sets of tablets inside and couldn't help but wonder why would someone who supposedly had a better immune system would need something like that, however even if he were to ask Kazuki he knew that there was no chance of getting a straight answer from the combat coordinator and decided to ignore the issue.

_After formation of the PLANT government, ambassadors and other representatives attempted to settle and douse the flames of war before they became uncontrollable fires that engulfed everything however in the uncertain time of the Cosmic Era these individuals often became targets of people who wish them to burn, one of these targets was the Uraki family who had been spokespeople for peace and to ease the tensions between the United Nations and PLANT homeland and it was these notions that would be their downfall. It was forteen years ago that the incident occured that would instantly claim their lives._

_"So did everything go well with the Eurasian Federation Assembly?" A well built elderly man in a Eurasian Federation admiral's uniform asked a middle aged Daichi Uraki._

_The brunette male nodded to his wife's grandfather but let out a sigh out of disappointment "To a degree yes. They're willing to give Coordinators rights but they're not willing to co-operate with the PLANT homeland." The well dressed ambassador was at least glad that one issue had been resolved and was happy to see that some progress was being made._

_Arina Uraki who was holding her three year old son by the hand, affectionately ruffled Kazuki's brown hair "As long as we keep trying, I know that Kazuki and those like him will be able to grow up in peace. That's all we should be aiming for now." She was just overjoy that she didn't have to worry about losing her son to one of those Blue Cosmos fanatics everytime they stepped out._

_Stopping outside the departure lounge for flights bound for Washington DC at the Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow, Arina's grandfather took Kazuki by the hand "So you're going ahead with the meeting? I really wish you wouldn't, you know that most of the anti-Coordinator groups operate out of Atlantic Federation territory and even if you aren't coordinators you're still considered targets." the old admiral tried to get them to reconsider._

_Daichi just shook his head "Our family believes in protecting our nation from conflicts before they start and this is the only way we know how to do it without betraying its ideals. For a world where everyone can grow up smiling." he said proudly before kneeling down and giving his son a hug. "Now be good for your great grandpa while we're away." he messed Kazuki's hair up which caused his son to pout slightly._

_The raven haired woman knelt down and kissed her son on the forehead and embraced him so tightly that he could smell the perfume that she was wearing "We'll call you as soon as we land and then come straight back after our meeting with Atlantic Federation Assembly and the president. Be a good boy okay and I'll miss you." She reluctantly let him go and followed her husband to the waiting passenger jet. _

_After the announcement of the Moscow-to-Washington flight leaving its terminal Kazuki along with his Great Grandfather watched in content as the passenger jet lumbered slowly down the movement area and eased itself onto the tarmac into take off position. Once clearance had been given to the airliner, the powerful turbine-jet engines roared as the throttle was pushed to its maximum and pulled the aircraft along the runway and into the air, it was there as the passenger jet began to retract the landing gear that it had exploded into ball of flaming debris and the rumbling shockwave could be heard for miles as it came crashing back down to earth. Inside the terminal Kazuki couldn't help but watch in confusion and wondered what had just happened being three years old, the concept of life and death wasn't familiar to him but what had happened obviously had shaken is great grandfather enough that he had disappeared to find out what happened, but eventually Kazuki would learn what had occurred._

Upon reaching their destination Matthew pulled the jeep off the road and onto a hillock on the outskirts of the old RAAF Test Range, which had been closed down after the construction of Carpentaria Base had been completed, after investigating the area the dark haired man returned to Ereka to give his companion the news "Hey Kazuki we're here and it looks like your theory was smack on." he said with a smirk on his face, waking the brunette from his slumber.

"Yeah…" Kazuki responded impassively but his turquoise eyes spoke of intent and purpose. With his dream still lingering in the back of his mind all the Coordinator could think about was the complete and utter annhiliation of this terrorist cell, as well as those like it.

**Ending - Hoshi No Tobira by Satori Negishi**

As Junius Seven falls, words that are filled with tears of scars that won't heal echo through space. Will the falling colony and the valiant efforts of ZAFT bring with it hope or fan the flames of a new conflict. Next on Vandread SEED Destiny; Beginning of the End. Bring forth a new era GINN.


	4. Beginning of the End

**Disclaimer: Vandread is property of** **Gonzo and Media Factory animation studios**

**Gundam SEED is property of Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment.**

**Kazuki Uraki and all other OCs are owned by yours truly.**

**A/N:** It's time for an action packed chapter. I'll be also stripping any original elements (i.e.: Mobile weapons, spacecraft, human enhancements, technology and factions) from the story so far and transferring them to their own page, this data will be featured at the end of the fiction and contain details of the concepts that I created however some of what I have already posted may be subject to change. Although I do enjoy seeing people favourite VSD, I would like to hear some feedback, creative critiques or even some reviews from you the readers. Reading how much you liked it brightens my day and really gives me motivation; in addition your critiques give me something to ponder about on how to improve it.

Sincerely, D-I

**Vandread SEED Destiny – Phase 04: Beginning of the End**

As the gravity of the Earth began to pull the remnants of the colony PLANT known as Junius Seven, ZAFT was still fighting the terrorists even as the colony began to burn red hot from the friction from entering the earth's atmosphere. "Have you forgotten the innocent lives thrown away here? You're living in a damn dream world laughing with the butchers who caused this, you bastards! The cowardly successors of Clyne have deceived us; they have corrupted and weakened ZAFT. Can't you see that? Patrick Zala knew it all along; the only true path for Coordinators was the one that he had chosen for us." These words resonated deeply within Athrun's psyche and would be the signal that would shape the events that soon followed

As the debris burned through the atmosphere a news broadcast went to all of the world's nations, informing them of the impending impact of Junius Seven and to seek out shelter or reach higher ground to avoid being swept away from tsunamis _"It is very difficult to predict the impact points of Junius Seven's fragments and there is a possibility that all of the Earth will suffer from it. A great amount of destruction is anticipated at the impact points and their surroundings. All citizens -"_ A dark haired middle aged man turned off their jeep's radio and cast a discerning gaze down at the supposedly abandoned Woomera Prohibited Area "Looks like they're using the confusion of the Junius Seven drop to mask their approach. Pity for them that we called it in though, right?" The man pointed to the two-way radio that they had been using to contact the ZAFT forces back at the Carpentaria Base

Kazuki just stared up at the morning sky as feint trails of light streaked through the heavens "..."

Matthew Jameson let out a sigh of relief and began to pack the communications pack away into the back of the jeep "Well we should head back to Carpentaria. I for one would like to have a decent shower, meal and better company. If you know what I mean." The dark haired man chuckled to himself, after having spent almost a month with the silent and stoic youth he was ready to get some down time with someone of the fairer sex.

"War is inevitable now." He said to himself with absolute certainty, as the explosive sound of the shockwave from Junius Seven's fall travelled around the world and like a massive war drum, signalled the beginning of the nightmares that were to come.

**Opening - Ignited by T.M. Revolution**

In a lavishly decorated cabin, red curtains slid open and revealed a false window that showed an image of a blue sky, rolling green plains and an audio recording of chirping birds, in her four-posted king sized bed Magno turned restlessly trying to ignore the chirping and sleep in, however the sound of the birds was soon replaced by the sound of blaring claxons. "Oh no...What's the matter now?" the captain of the Mejerian Pirates groaned as she woke from her slumber.

On the men's side of the Nirvana inside of the converted Vanguard hangar, Parfet sat atop of Dita's Dread and scanned the internal components of the fighter "Oh wow! It's made an amazing metamorphosis. You can enter the atmosphere without reconfiguring at all. Wow! Paksis just never ceases to amaze me. It's incredible," the bespectacled girl said excitedly, holding the scanning device up close and completely unaware of the internal alarms.

"Excuse me, isn't something beeping?" Parfet's assistant called out to her superior from below.

As the alarms continued to blare throughout the ship, two female crew members ran towards their assigned posts in case of emergencies and were running past Meia's room when the door hissed open "What seems to be the matter?" the Dread commander asked wondering if the ship was about to come under attack.

"Apparently they've detected some kind of crack in a part of the ship." The girls stopped and reported the situation to Meia in a hurry

The light blue haired young woman looked at the two crewmembers quizzically "What do you mean?" she wondered what exactly they meant by a crack in the ship.

On the bridge of the _Nirvana_ a blonde haired young girl watched as sections of the ship's schematics began to flash red on her console, not wasting anytime on allowing the situation to get any worse Celtic began directing emergency crews to the problem from her station "There's trouble in area thirty-six, damage control please report sector status immediately." She ordered over the internal communications system of the battleship.

The men's quarters were completely flooded with over two hundred millimetres of water. "It's so cool! What a wonderful flood! I check it on camera! Check it all out!" Paiway shouted as she took photos, while sitting in a small yellow rubber dinghy.

Like Duelo and Bart, Hibiki was forced to seek refuge on from the rising waters on his bed however Paiway wasn't making it any easier for him by reminding him of what was happening "Brat." He said leaning forward, causing him to lose his balance and fall into the water "What the hell is going on?" the Taraak youth groaned.

Across the room in the adjacent cell, Bart in his blue pyjamas and nightcap was frantically trying to retrieve his favourite pillow with a broom handle "Not my pillow! How am I supposed to get to sleep now?" he whined trying to get his pillow from the water without getting wet himself, however his efforts went in vain after he reached out too far and fell off his bed and into the swimming pool which had been the men's sleeping quarters not too long ago.

Not wasting her chance to see one of the men looking ridiculous and in a humiliating position, Paiway raised her camera and grinned cheekily as she eyed Bart who was still under the water "And…I gotcha!" and much to the helmsman's contempt she took a photo of him. "Look it's a fishy!" she quipped while articulating the 'mouth' of her frog backpack

Sitting on his bed that was opposite Bart's, Duelo was reading one of the many books that he had saved. "Well don't forget it's bad for human to chill the bottom half of their bodies." The Taraak doctor reminded the young Mejerian nurse, however it was at that time that one of the pipes decided to burst and rained water on top of the doctor and Paiway couldn't help but laugh in response until she too fell victim to the pipe above her.

After changing and getting a brief description of what was happening on her ship, the captain descended from her ready room and down to the bridge to get a more recent update. "So how is it?" Magno asked Ezra

She turned to look at the captain "Well it looks as though things are just about under control now, except that the men's quarters are totally flooded." Ezra reported glancing back at her console.

After hearing Ezra's statement Pyoro, a short Navi robot that was designed during the Pioneer Era, came walking across the bridge dragging a small rubber raft with Khalua in it. "FLOOD! I am not going to let her drown! I won't let anything to Pyoro-2! That's it we're evacuating right now!" it ranted on while over exaggerating about what was really happening.

"Cut it out Pyoro! Don't treat Khalua like some kind of toy!" Ezra was worried how the small robot was handling her baby who was seemingly enjoying herself.

Pyoro eyes narrowed and frowned at the name that Ezra had decided to give to the baby. "She's Pyoro-2," it reminded the mother of the baby, attempting to get its own way.

Back down in the men's quarters Buzam surveyed the damage that the leaks had caused and to her it didn't look too good. "We're not going to be able to use this anytime soon." She sighed wondering how such a disaster could happen aboard their ship.

In the Medical Bay the men from Taraak had gathered together after being flooded out of their rooms and waited for Paiway to arrive so they could get started on the repairs to the ruptured pipes. "Ah! There you are, you need a place to sleep. Why don't you come over to my room?" Misty entered the room and offered Hibiki a towel and a place to rest in an attempt to get closer to the young man

Thinking that Misty's offer was an open invitation, Bart grasped the hand towel with a gracious expression on his face "Oh … thanks! That had me worried for a minute; I was wondering how I was going to get to sleep with out my favourite pillow" he said, relieved that he'd have somewhere comfortable to sleep after losing his pillow to the flood.

"I didn't mean you! Here take this." The blue haired girl snatched the towel away from the helmsman and offered it to Hibiki once more.

A tick appeared on Hibiki's head as Misty's constant attention towards him was starting to get on his nerves. "I keep telling you not to mess with me all the time! So leave me alone! That's enough I refuse to let things like this, give people an excuse to go around pitying me! A warrior may not eat but he can hold out!" he stood up defiantly and stormed out of the medical bay to get some space between himself and the new girl from Pluto.

"More like a spoiled brat." Duelo stated bluntly, noting the younger Taraak male's childish attempt to act like a man.

After Hibiki had left and seeing Misty's disappointed expression, Bart took the opportunity to see if Misty was willing to give him a place to sleep until the men's quarters were once again available "In that case I'll take his place." he said confidently, hoping that he wouldn't be turned down.

"I'm saying I have no interest in you, light-bulb head." The girl snapped at Bart's audacity at trying to invite himself into a girl's room without permission, let alone someone who didn't have any romantic or sympathetic feelings towards him.

The navigator faulted at the insult "Light-bulb head?" he looked at the ground in despair and began wondering if he really looked like a light-bulb or worse.

Not wanting to be left behind Misty got to her feet and ran out of the door just as Parfet approached the medical bay "Ohhh...yoo-hoo wait for me Hibiki!" she called out running after Hibiki.

Although narrowly avoiding a collision with the new girl on the ship, Parfet couldn't help but smile at her lively attitude. "Cheerful as always I see." The bespectacled girl said as she watched Misty run towards Hibiki's direction, entering the room Parfet then turned her onto the doctor and completely ignoring the navigator.

"Oh I'm sorry for troubling you." The doctor apologised to the ship's engineer for calling her to help repair the pipes in the men's quarters.

Parfet on the other hand wouldn't hear it, it was her duty as the ship's chief engineer to see that everything ran smoothly and she didn't want the doctor feel as if he was imposing his will upon her. "Hey that's my line. Just a second and I'll fix you right up, until then would you want to come over to my room?" she asked offering the doctor a place to sleep while the repairs were taking place.

"No but I appreciate the sentiment though. I'm much more comfortable here." Duelo replied just after the medical dummy behind him fell and rested its head on his shoulder; although a proper place to rest would be preferable the doctor didn't want to be a burden on her.

However his response wasn't at all to Parfet's liking and she wondered why Duelo would refuse her offer to come to her room "Oh... I see... whatever you say." She reluctantly accepted his decision to stay in the medical bay.

Bart seeing the underlying relationship huffed at how he was the only one that wasn't making any progress in the romance department. "Each and every one of them" he pouted.

**Terrorist Base; Oceania Union – South Australia**

With their part of the contract finished the party sent to Earth to spy on the Zala supporters, Matthew Jameson had begun to pack up the equipment however his Coordinator comrade just remained silent while he glared at the base that they had been watching for the almost a month now, this attitude and lack of cooperation began to frustrate the black haired Natural who had finished packing up the communications equipment. "Hey Kazuki! It's time we got going." Matthew called placing the container that held the communications equipment on the back seat of the ZAFT jeep.

As memories of what had happened at Panama to the Naturals that had surrendered flooded back from the recesses of his mind, he knew all too well what these rogue soldiers were capable of and how far they would go to see it through and knowing all this while sitting on the sidelines and doing nothing just didn't suit him. "Their path takes them through a town." Kazuki frowned looking at the horizon and marched over to the back of the Ereka

The other lieutenant watched as the coordinator moved the boxes to the floor of the jeep and lift up the back seat to reveal a large, black aluminium gun case that had been resting next to a slender chrome finished gun case. "What are you talking about? Wait! Don't tell me you're actually thinking of going after them?" He basically shouted as the coordinator eased his arms through a black ballistic vest and sheathed a tanto-styled combat knife on the shoulder cover, he then took out two pistols from the protective foam and shoved them at the back of his jeans, near the small of his back, lastly he slung a submachine gun over his left shoulder and began storing the ammunition in the various pockets of his body armour. Watching the preparation and the uncharacteristically insubordinate attitude of the coordinator, Matthew couldn't help but let out an exhausted sigh. "Kazuki our contract states that we are to fall back to Carpentaria once they start moving, this doesn't concern us anymore and when did you have time to get a ballistic vest?" He stated matter-of-factly and wondered why his companion brought a vest with them if they were going to do just a recon mission however the playboy had already guessed that Kazuki had planned to get involved from the start.

Walking back to the edge of the road he looked towards the route that the main force had taken and then back to the hangars where the Mobile Suits were stored. "They're heading North East. A town lies directly in their path, they'll kill the people," the brunette adolescent thought back to when they were analysing the nation's map for possible holdouts from when they started the mission.

"You don't know that." Matthew Jameson replied with scepticism evident in his voice, still trying to be a voice of reason for the Coordinator but he ultimately knew that what ever he said now was an effort in futility and was hoping that the ZAFT military had evacuated the town before they began their operations against the terrorists.

Kazuki glanced back over his shoulder at the other Lieutenant with an emotionless expression on his face, both of them knew what these people stood for and it bothered him that Jameson was questioning that fact. "They still support Patrick Zala's genocidal ideals" he stated the obvious to Matthew and cocked the barrel of the submachine gun.

"This is crazy." The dark haired Natural groaned and brought his hand to his forehead, if he were to let Kazuki go and attack the base and get himself killed, he'd have a hard time explaining how it had happened and why he had allowed it to happen in the first place.

"Then don't come." the brunette coordinator replied simply making his way towards the converted military base across the desert landscape, fully prepared to throw away his life against seemingly impossible odds.

Not wanting to be left out, Matthew opened the chromed finished slender gun case and brought out a semi-automatic sniper rifle with a telescopic sight. "I just wanted to know when do we get started." he walked up to his comrade and placed a hand on Kazuki's shoulder to get his attention, to say the least the coordinator was genuinely stunned by what he saw. "I don't want you to have all the fun" He let an arrogant smirk creep onto his features while he loaded his weapon of choice. As the sun baked the harsh Australian desert and laying beneath a tan coloured blanket, Matthew Jameson lined up his crosshairs over his target and even though he agreed to help out, he couldn't help but wearily shake his head at the plan that they were about to carry out.. "You know this is the most fucked up, crazy arsed plan that I've been apart of. Are you sure that you want do to this?" He sounded unsure whether their two-man assault on the base would work.

Ignoring his comrade's complaints about the plan, Kazuki opened the small container of capsule tablets and tipped a one of the oval shaped black-red capsules in his mouth and gulped as it travelled through his body. "Just take the shot." The coordinator said apathetically as he stared at his target from the driver's seat of the jeep. The plan was simple enough and pretty straight forward, Matthew Jameson would take out the guards at the front gate to delay the base from being put on alert and Kazuki with the jeep would damage a fuel line and crash the Ereka into the fuel depot to start a fire, the resulting explosion would create havoc on the base and the defending forces would attempt to handle situation and in the process become easy targets, in addition the thick smoke from the fire would create enough cover for him so that the base's mobile suits would have a difficult time separating him from the base personnel.

"Right, right. Don't rush me or I might let you do all the work" He let out an exhaustive sigh and lined the sights of his rifle over the guard at the front gate, after compensating for wind resistance and drift; Matthew squeezed the trigger and the rifle kicked back with a sharp jolt as it released a round into the skull of the guard who fell to his knees and hit the and left a large crimson red stain on the pavement.

The thunderous echo from the sniper rifle was the signal to start the operation. Hearing the shot from a nearby motor pool a group of supporters of Patrick Zala's ideals came running outside wondering where the sound had come from "What the hell was that?" Their question was answered when a green jeep burst through the front gate. "We're under attack! Raise the alarm!" One of the rogue soldiers cried out and ran towards the armoury to obtain a weapon to repel the sudden attack. The next few moments were a complete blur as everything was so far going according to plan for the mercenaries however the more difficult part of the personal mission had just begun, after breaching the gate the next step was to some how damage the reinforced-steel storage tank and ignite the volatile chemicals inside.

After driving past the storage tanks, Kazuki saw the answer to his dilemma in the form of the fuel tap and aimed the vehicle he was driving at it in an attempt to weaken the structure enough for heat to increase the temperatures inside to ignite the fuel inside. As the distance between the vehicle and the tap the forces at the base had armed themselves with assault rifles and took aim at the Ereka jeep, out of the corner of his eye Kazuki watched as one of the men stepped forward glaring at him hatefully and could guess what was going to happen. "Open fire!" The rogue soldier shouted at the top of his lungs and a hail of live ammunition showered the side of the vehicle, however as the first rounds hit the jeep the teenaged soldier had ditched his ride and rolled safely away as the vehicle continued along its path, leaving a path of fuel behind it. "Get up and drop your weapons." The leader of the small force demanded as his troops pointed their weapons at the brunette coordinator. On the ridge, looking through his scope Matthew couldn't help but feel uneasy about how the situation had turned out, even though he could only see a rank of soldiers lined up he knew that it was bad however he also knew that Kazuki could always determine the flow of battle and undermine it to his advantage. Complying with the Patrick Zala supporter's request, Kazuki stood to his feet holding a flash-bang and dropped it behind his back; the soldier was quick to react however and took a few steps back as it rolled across the ground "I warned you!" He shouted raising his weapon to take aim at the infiltrator but he was blinded by the flash from the grenade which ignited the trail of fuel on the ground and flames shot into the air, that was the signal that Matthew was promised and began firing rounds into the compound hitting the soldiers that had threatened his comrade in the head, each one falling to the ground with sickening thud and spilling crimson red blood across the crack pavement. "Shit! A sniper!" the commanding officer shouted diving for cover from the bullets that were flying through the air.

"Where'd the shots come from?" One of the rogue soldiers asked his superior as thick black smoke billowed into the heavens and flames licked the sky and standing amongst the chaos like a demon thirsty for blood Kazuki Uraki withdrew his pistols from behind his back and turned off the safeties on his dual P8 USP pistols and immediately disposed of one of the soldiers who had come out of his cover only to receive a shot to throat, gargling as he fell to his knees as blood leaked from the wound.

"Looks like the shots came from the ridge, send a team around to take out that sniper." the commanding officer of the base's security looked at the splatter pattern on the concrete to determine the firing angle and the location of the sniper. "Otherwise we'll never be able to get near that bastard." he watched as Kazuki began running across the pavement narrowly avoiding being riddled with gunfire until he was close enough to plunge his tantō style combat knife into the chest of one of his attackers and let off a succession of shots into the abdomen of another before the guard was about to strike him with the butt of his rifle. After seeing how well the intruder was fighting and how few scratches he had, the base commander had no doubts what they were facing was a coordinator but not like any other.

Back on the ridge after seeing movement near the main gate, Matthew wasn't at all that surprised that someone had figured out where he was perched and knew that he would have to move sooner or later "Well looks like it is time for me to move." he said casting one last glance at the base that had turned into a battlefield in only a short space of time.

**Nirvana; L 1 – Yggdrassil Debris Field**

Back aboard the Nirvana, Jura had demanded that a camera be set up to monitor how Misty interacted with Hibiki after hearing how this new girl was able to instantly get on his good side and stole Dita's thunder. "Amarone how is it?" Jura asked impatiently, wanting to know if everything had been set up yet.

"Here it comes." the dark-skinned Megeran replied almost excitedly after the footage from the security camera in the converted Vanguard hangar began to appear in a window on the monitor of her personal laptop. "Wow! Let me see!" Two other crewmembers nearby joined Amarone at the table she was sitting at and looked at the screen.

Looking over the dark-skinned young woman's shoulder "Oh wow! He looks completely enamoured." Jura said as her expression turned to one of concern as Misty seemed to be a complete natural when it came to dealing with men and literally had him eating out of her hand, at this rate Dita wouldn't stand a chance against the new girl.

"Hey! Let's not watch this" Dita looked on at the group at the table nervously, for some reason it was hard for her to hear how Misty was taking all of Hibiki's time and attention.

Jura didn't like where this was going, Dita was giving up before even trying and it would ruin her chance of seeing if a Megeran Woman and a Taraak Man could get together. "You're kidding? As far as I can tell Misty seems to know everything there is about men." The blonde haired woman argued placing a hand on her hip. "I think it's great and I want to hear what they're talking about, don't you?" she said sternly, knowing that Dita would almost immediately back down.

"But it's..." the red haired girl protested hesitantly at spying on Misty and Hibiki.

Jura couldn't believe that Dita couldn't see the larger picture. "Oh come on, it's okay. Look right there she just touched his hand." She said excitedly after seeing Misty making such a bold move that no Megeran would consider doing.

"What is this guy? He's like an animal." One of the Megeran women who were commented on how much Hibiki was eating and on his eating habits "They are sure having a good time." Another added. Even though Hibiki looked like an animal while eating, Misty seemed to enjoy watching the Tarak male gorging himself on the food before him.

Down in the converted hangar on the men's side of the ship, Hibiki sat cross-legged on a blanket as he scoffed a bowl of food that the recent addition to the crew had made for him "This is delicious! What's it called?" he asked with a mouth full of food as he continued to finish the bowl.

"It's paella. They say that there are as many flavours as there are couples." The girl sitting next to Hibiki replied cheerfully with a slight blush on her face, already thinking that they were an 'item' of sorts.

Hibiki however being totally focused on the food in front of him didn't hear the last part of what Misty had said "What was that?" he said dumbly as he picked the last few grains from the bowl.

"It's a time consuming and subtle dish you make, especially for your boyfriend." Misty added.

Hibiki more interested in the food, dismissed what she said and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt. "mmm...yeah whatever, this is great! Gimme more!" the Taraak male eagerly handed the crimson-eyed girl the bowl he had been eating from.

Back in the mess hall a sizeable group had formed around Amarone and Jura, all having taken an interest in how fast Misty had gotten close to Hibiki _"Boy! Hibiki you eat so much!"_ Misty said cheerily as she gladly refilled the bowl for the Taraak male.

"Boyfriend?" This one word that was mentioned in the conversation between Hibiki and Misty had left the crew who were watching baffled and confused "What's that?" Jura and Amarone said in unison while looking at each other, expecting that one of them should know what the new girl had meant by the term.

**Terrorist Base; Oceania Union – South Australia**

As the sun blazed in the midday sky and a small battle raged within the confines of the terrorist base, a pair of the Zala supporters had reached the position where the shots had been fired from however instead of finding their sniper all they found was a rifle and a few empty clips laying on the small hill that overlooked the base. Seeing only the weapon and the spent rounds scattered on the ground had left the scout party suspicious of their surroundings and begun investigating the area carefully however the over cautiousness would be their own undoing for allowing the obvious going unnoticed. "Wha-?" one of the members of the search team cried out as the sand beneath him shifted and Matthew grabbed the surprised soldier around the leg and brought him to the ground and drove his knife through the neck of the man he had tripped before grabbing his sniper rifle and unloaded the clip into the abdomen of the second. "Can't believe you fell for the oldest trick in the book." the dark haired playboy said with a sigh and turned his attention to the base where the battle had seemingly moved to the interior of one of the buildings. "Well I hope he doesn't need my help anytime soon however it looks like he won't be needing it anyway, regardless his progress will make the boss will be happy." Matthew breathed heavily and waited lazily for the battle to come to a close.

In a bid to turn the tide of the battle to their favour the remaining base personnel had taken refuge inside the nearest office where they could catch him in a crossfire while taking cover in an office, anything to give them an edge however they had to gain the upper hand and fast otherwise the gradually decreasing morale would cost them the fight. Kazuki on the other hand didn't care what his enemies did, in fact he didn't even care about the injuries he had sustained or the fatigue, at the moment all he cared about was the battle and killing every last person between him and his goal. It was during these moments that had scared Hilde and to an extent Captain Theodore that the drug would eventually wipe out his humanity and leave him in a berserker like state or worse continue a fight that may very well end up killing him, however no one could deny the benefits of having Kazuki in this mode and how that it not only gave them an edge in combat but also served as an effective tool in psychological warfare as his almost emotionless features and glazed eyes, sowed the seeds of fear and doubt amongst the ranks of the enemy. "Take this!" A frightened soldier shouted coming out from his cover in a nearby room and threw a fragmentation grenade at the brown haired coordinator who was walking down the hallway with the same blank, uncaring expression however the soldier had thrown the grenade too soon and Kazuki was able to kick the explosive off the frame of the door and into room that the rogue soldier was hiding in. "GYAAAH!" Debris and a painful howl came from the room after the grenade had exploded

"What the hell is this guy?" One of the soldiers-turned-terrorist panicked after seeing Kazuki effortlessly dispose of another comrade and continued down the hall to their position. "It's almost like he's a demon." the bad slid down behind the overturned desk he was using as his defensive position and had a look of disbelief clearly etched on his face, knowing that even if they blew off a limb this invader would still come after them.

The base commander however didn't need to be reminded of the ridiculous situation they were in and how absurd it was to be defeated by one man and a coordinator at that however what he wanted know was why were they being attacked by a coordinator who didn't even looked like they were apart of any regular military but that didn't matter, what did matter was that they survived. Gritting his teeth in anger and frustration, the base commander slammed the last remaining magazine he had into his FN SCAR assault rifle "Shut up and kill that bastard!" he growled to his subordinate and grabbed him by the collar "Do whatever it takes to finish him!" he spat and both rose from behind their cover only to find the hall empty save for a small cylinder rolling into the office and was followed by a blinding flash that filled the entire room.

**Nirvana; L 1 – Yggdrassil Debris Field**

In the mess hall aboard the Nirvana crowd had once again grown around Amarone and everyone had become enthralled by what was happening down in the converted Vanguard hangar however what started out as a fact-finding investigation had quickly turned into entertainment. "She fed him with a spoon! Did you see it?" one of the Megeran females in the group said in shocked disbelief.

"Well she certainly is something, I'll give her that." Jura was honestly impressed with how well Misty was going. Unlike Dita who would usually meet some sort of resistance from Hibiki, Misty wasn't meeting any which was more progressed than any of the Megeran's on the ship had made.

Amarone couldn't help but agree with the blonde haired woman's sentiments "Yeah and didn't she also come from a planet where men and women actually live together?" the dark-skinned eighteen year old woman remembered. "I'd say even a hundred and fifty Mejerians wouldn't have a chance against that one." she said in a defeated tone, because Misty was born on a planet where men and women cohabitated she knew how to act around men and also knew the tricks on how to get closer to them.

However for the red haired girl the situation was becoming unbearable to tolerate and was weighing heavily on her heart, causing a rush of confusing and painful emotions to overwhelm her, something which she had never experienced in her life before. "Dita." Meia barely missed being knocked over the room as the girl in question ran out of the room, practically on the verge of tears.

Back in the hangar Hibiki was just finishing the last of the food that Misty had brought with her however the crimson-eyed girl had not finished spending time with the Taraak male. "You know in my room not I have some wonderful desserts and not only are they a whole tastier but they're really sweet too." she tempted Hibiki with a bashful look on her face and a slight shade of pink on her cheeks.

"Did you say dessert?" Hibiki's face lit up at the mention of more being able to eat more food, especially considering that food happened to be sugary treats.

After clearing the hangar of the plates, bowls and other dishes Hibiki began to follow Misty down the hall and towards her room, everything was so far going according to plan for the girl from Pluto until they ran into Dita, who had been waiting for them and deciding whether or not she was doing the right thing. "Hibiki's going to come over to my room now, I thought we'd spend some quality time a lone together. Let's go Hibiki."

Misty smirked and said proudly as if she had already won the battle and continued walking towards her room with the now hesitant Taraak male close behind her. "Ah...sure." Hibiki replied dumbly unsure whether to follow Misty after seeing the depressed look in Dita's eyes

"Well Dita what are you going to do now?" One of the Megeran women in the group who was watching over Amarone's shoulder was eager to see what Dita was going to do next.

Dita unconsciously played with a small alien toy that had a soft body but a head made of porcelain "Um...Mister Alien...um...well...um" she began nervously.

Hibiki stopped in his tracks after hearing the red haired girl's nickname for him. "What do you want?" the dark spiked haired youth replied with a mix of both irritation and concern.

The blue haired girl wrapped her arms around the Taraak male's left arm "Hibiki come on!" Misty urged the Taraak youth to finish the conversation and continue following her to her room.

Not wanting Hibiki to leave just yet, Dita summoned up all the courage that she had left and pressed her own 'attack' in an effort to stop Misty from stealing Hibiki away "Well...I...um...I didn't want you to be bored so I thought you'd might like this." She offered out the toy in her hands.

"This is no good." Jura said, frustrated that Dita had made a childish move.

"That's not going to help. You can't fill a stomach with toys." The bob-cut brunette in the group surrounding the computer in the mess hall agreed with what Jura had said.

Misty however didn't take to kindly to Dita's interference and slapped the doll out of her hands, unfortunately the crimson-eyed girl didn't know that the small alien doll's head was so fragile and couldn't help but be startled after it shattered against the ground. "Well I'm sorry but men don't really go for things like that and I don't want you getting in our way." Misty apologised but didn't want Dita to get the idea that they were friends.

"What's her problem?" Celtic who was watching what was happening from the bridge fumed at Misty's arrogant attitude.

Feeling that she had finally put Dita in her place, Misty had turned to the Taraak youth and grabbed him by the arm again. "Well shall we go Hibiki? Come on!" Hibiki however was still startled by what had happened and felt that he should do something to cheer Dita up however he was snapped out of his train of thought when Misty urged him to follow.

The red haired girl steeled herself and grabbed Hibiki's other arm to stop him from leaving with another girl. "No! I don't want you to go!" She refused to give up this time.

"Hurry!" Both Misty and Dita began to pull harder, neither one wanted the other to take Hibiki. "You can't!"

The Taraak male who was in the centre of the argument, felt as if his arms were about to tear off at any second and couldn't bear the pain anymore "Idiots! Stop it! OWWW!" he cried out and both girls realised what they were doing but they had both let go of Hibiki so fast that he had lost his footing and hit his head against the wall in the corridor. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF THE BOTH OF YOU! Let's get one thing straight! I'm not a toy!" stormed off back to his quarters to see how the repairs to the pipes were progressing.

"You always get in my way!" Misty was infuriated that Dita had ruined her time alone with Hibiki and walked back to her room on her own.

In the mess hall, the Mejeran women who had been watching the fight over Hibiki and had been disappointed at Dita's performance and began wondering if the red haired girl was unable to get the young Taraak male's attention, what chance would any of them have of doing the same. "Misty is definitely in the lead." the Mejeran with the bob-cut stated unenthusiastically.

"Dita's always weak right when it really counts."Amarone complained, for as long as the Mejeran pirates had known Dita they all knew that she wasn't aggressive enough when it came to certain things. Although her kindness wasn't a bad thing, it wasn't necessarily a good thing either and it was because of this that Misty was making more progress than Hibiki. However as the group discussed the situation between Hibiki, Misty and Dita, Meia who had been listening in from afar couldn't help but feel somewhat concerned and knew that if something wasn't done right away the entire formation would break down because of low morale, just like before when Hibiki had said that he wanted nothing to do with Dita and the girl in question began distancing herself from the Taraak youth.

After seeking refuge in her room, Dita locked the door behind and fell to the floor with tears starting to fell from her eyes and onto her hands as she craddled the broken alien doll in them. "Why? Why are? Why do so many tears keep coming out?" the feelings she was experiencing now were confusing to her, never before had she felt like this.

**Terrorist Base; Oceania Union – South Australia**

The last soldier had fallen and the only person who was left was the base commander, now he was being held in place against the wall and gasping for air. "Ack!" he felt pressure against his neck from Kazuki's arm "Why? Why are you doing this? We're a like we're both Coordinators, you should be helping us to get rid of the Naturals for their arrogance and for what they've done." the middle-aged rogue soldier said as he struggled for air and unable to believe that his base had been overrun by just one coordinator.

At first Kazuki was tempted to break the man's neck however he didn't give into it and kept his arm against the base commander's throat until he had gone limp and loss consciousness. "We're nothing alike" he said almost inaudibly. Kazuki stared at the unconscious terrorist, still torn between executing the man or allowing to live but then came to the conclusion that it would be a too merciful to let the rogue soldier to die, allowing him to live would be a more fitting punishment for he would dream of what had happened at the base and see the faces of his comrades looking at him in the mirror with cold dead eyes. Some may see it as a weakness but what Kazuki had done was a fate worse than death.

It was moments later that Jameson had entered arrived on the base and Kazuki had tied the base commander up to a lamppost outside of the office building. "We cleaned them up pretty nicely don't you think? Are you alright man?" He asked after seeing the torn clothes, scratches and the blood trickling off of Kazuki's arm and onto the pavement, he also noticed that the coordinator looked slightly dehydrated and was surprised that he could stand in the state he was in.

Kazuki brushed past the dark haired natural and headed towards the hangars that held the remaining mobile suits that were being kept back in reserve. "I'm fine. We need to catch up with them." the brunette acted if nothing was wrong however at the moment he was more-or-less using his own will power to continue on.

Matthew hurried over to his fellow mercenary and began walking by his side. "Hey wait a second will ya? I don't know what's going on and I know Coordinators are tough, but right now you look like shit and about to collapse any minute now." He reasoned in an attempt to persuade Kazuki from doing something potentially suicidal. Although coordinators were considered to be almost superhuman that belief was in fact false, first generation coordinators weren't as much engineered but in fact were tailored to their own parent's desires and wishes, which meant that their physical, mental abilities and their resistance to disease would have had to of been outlined during the initial consultation process and because they were human, meant that coordinators were far from being indestructible. "Even if you don't fall over yourself I can't pilot one of these Mobile Suits with a Coordinator's OS on board." the playboy stated matter-of-factly

"I wasn't expecting you to do anything," the brunette with his spiked hair in a ponytail said bluntly.

That visibly hit a nerve with the other Lieutenant and stopped him in his tracks however rather than letting the comment get to him, he allowed it to roll of his back and played it off. "I don't care how tough you are, you're not going to make me write a full page report on how you died out there!" he said nonchalantly, placing a hand on Kazuki's shoulder in a last attempt to stop him.

The brunette's glazed jade-green eyes stared coldly at the dark haired man in front of him, Kazuki could feel the effects of the stabilisation drug wearing off and tingling sensations began to throb from the wounds on his body. "Get out of my way or you won't be able to write one." the ex-Combat Coordinator warned, his voice was void and emotionless that sent chills down his comrade's spine.

Matthew rubbed the back of his head and let out an exasperated sigh as he watched his fellow mercenary walk off, with the performance enhancing drug that the Earth Alliance made him dependant on wearing off Kazuki was in no mood to have his patience tested and to be frank the Natural didn't want to be in his way or around when the enhanced-capsule form Glipheptin. "FINE! BUT DON'T GO COMPLAINING TO ME AFTER YOU FIND YOURSELF ON THE BUSINESS END OF A GINN'S RIFLE...NO HAUNTING ME EITHER!" He called out to Kazuki as the Combat Coordinator disappeared into one of the hangars and into the cockpit of a mobile suit that had been placed in reserve by the rogue soldiers who still supported Patrick Zala's ideals, moments later there was a hum as and whir of motors as the primary systems of a grey-green GINN Insurgent type began it's start-up sequence and tore out of its cradle and burst through the rusted steel doors of the hangar in pursuit of the terrorist's main force. "You better not die Kazuki, _he_ isn't a forgiving person nor someone you want' to anger." Matthew muttered under his own breath.

**Nirvana; L 1 – Yggdrassil Debris Field**

After the incident in the hall, Hibiki was annoyed by that Dita and Misty had fought over him like he was nothing more than some toy and the unwanted attention had started to get to him. In an attempt to solve the problem the young Taraak male had gone to the men's makeshift quarters to see if there had been any progress with the pipes however he discovered that the repairs were going to take longer than expected and at the same time had recieved a lecture from Meia who stated that their views on whether or not men and women can live together is starting to change and that returning to his 'room' would not change anything, even though her words did help to make things clearer for him they also brought up more questions on how he was going to deal with the current situation and how much the light blue haired Dread squadron commander had changed since he had first met her, noting that she was talking to others more.

After allowing Misty to help clean his Vanguard as a gesture of good will, Hibiki still felt unsure about what to do and how exactly he felt towards Dita but he did know it was something that would keep on nagging at him until he resolved them. To help clear his head of his doubts and confusion the spike haired Taraak male unconsciously headed down to the Reg System and for a moment he had thought he saw Miss Gascogne sitting in the chair however the phantom was soon replaced by Barnette who had taken over the duties of running the Reg System and its crew. At the same time Dita was being consolled by Ezra and had been assured that all Hibiki was doing was just being a good friend to Misty and trying to help her to adjust to life aboard the Nirvana, the red haired girl was about to say something else but was interrupted when Pyoro came in with Kaluha on his back complaining to Ezra about using paper diapers instead of the fabric kind. After their respective talks with their friends Hibiki exited the Reg System's office and began walking back to the hangar to finish the maintance on his Vanguard however he found himself intercepted by Misty once again and was embraced by her out of no where after trying to cheer her up which led to another misunderstanding after Dita and causing the red haired Mejeran to run away in tears when she saw Misty hugging the Taraak male from behind, even though he tried desperately to explain that it wasn't what it looked like but Dita was so broken up by what she had seen that Hibiki's words fell on deaf ears and had to explain to Misty that he feel an emotion for Dita that he had never felt with anyone else before.

Unhappy about how the red-haired UFO nut was giving up without so much as a fight, Jura had decided to do something to give Dita at least a moment to be alone with Hibiki and a chance to sort out this entire mess between them. Dita had ran, just ran after seeing the both Misty and the Taraak Male she had come to call 'Mister Alien' together like that, wiping away the tears from her eyes, the young Mejeran woman tried to make sense of why every time she saw him and the new girl together however every time she tried, it only brought more pain to her heart. "Dita! Let's go! We're going to discuss some plans for a new formation. Head over to the meeting room immediately, got that?" Jura said using an uncharacteristically authoritative voice and then began looking for Hibiki to tell him to do the same..

"Alright I understand." Dita replied sniffing and wiping the last of the tears from her eyes in an attempt to make herself look more presentable so she wouldn't be chewed out for not being properly prepared or something and so that people wouldn't ask too many questions about was going on.

Watching Dita approach the briefing room to attend the socalled 'meeting' from behind a corner, Amarone began filtering the images throughout the Nirvana which opened floating holographic windows in some areas of the ship or appearing on consoles in others. _"Camera one standby."_ the dark-skinned woman's voice echoed over the speakers.

"Sorry I'm late." Dita ran into the room half expecting to get reprimanded by Meia or Jura however when she entered the only person she saw who had arrived was Hibiki. "What's up?" he asked, equally confused about what was happening and why only he and Dita were the only ones in the briefing room.

Taking a few steps further into the room the door suddenly slammed shut behind Dita and Jura's face appear on the large main monitor, startling Hibiki and nearly causing him to fall off his seat at the front. _"ATTENTION! I've fixed it so you two can be alone awhile and I hope you appreciate this,"_ she began, irritation evident in her voice..

"Jura..." Dita was at a loss for words, Jura usually tried her best to interfere and here she was trying her best to help the situation between herself and Hibiki.

The blonde haired Mejeran flipped her elegant long hair. _"You're to talk things out properly and until you do the door remains locked, and stop bothering me with this silliness already. YOU'RE MAKING ME LOOK OLD!"_ She shouted angrily at how childish the two of them were acting recently.

In navigation, Bart who had been forced to stay inside the special 'area' of the ship couldn't help but feel somewhat relieved that he had some thing to entertain him while he waited for the pipes to be repaired "I see. Now this is worth watching." he was impressed at how well Jura had been able to set this up.

However even though they were alone both of them were so nervous that they could barely speak, so much had happened in such a short amount of time, misunderstandings and missed opportunities to clear things up. "IT'S MADDENING! ARE YOU TWO JUST GONNA STAY LIKE THAT FOREVER? _HURRY UP AND GET TALKNG!"_ Jura demanded that they start doing something, anything to at least cut the tension in the air.

"Shut up! _Man you guys are annoying, sheesh."_ Hibiki snapped back at Jura for being so impatient and trying to force him to do something he wasn't particuarly good at doing. _"So um...Mister Alien...I...uh"_ Dita tried to get a conversation started but like Hibiki she didn't know where to begin.

The blonde haired woman on the other hand was still waiting for that something special to happen, the sign that said that there was at least a chance that a Mejeran woman and a Taraak man could get together, but Jura being the person who she was couldn't just sit and wait. "How irritating." she said impatiently however Meia who was standing near the door was perfectly fine with waiting.

After being rejected by Hibiki, the blue haired girl from Pluto neeeded to drown her sorrows with something to eat or drink, anything to get her mind off of what had happened earlier. Approaching the messhall she had heard what Jura had said and enterred the room. "Ohhh...So that's what's going on here? Here we have one hundred and fifty people all teamed and rooting for one girl. The pirates of Mejere certainly do value friendship don't they?" She said nonchalantly.

Hearing Misty's comment, the blonde haired Mejeran whipped around and glared at the new girl as if warning her. "This is a good moment here, so don't you dare get in the way!" She knew that if Misty was given a chance, she would instantly barge in on Hibiki and Dita while they were making up and ruin the moment between them.

"Oh relax, I'm not so dumb as to go around making enemies of the entire ship." she waved a hand dismissively "Anyway the only reason I was fooling around with that boy at all was because I was bored." Although she felt as if she had been betrayed and hurt by the others the girl tried to play off her true feelings for Hibiki as nothing more than act. Even though Misty tried her best to hide her feelings and the pain she was feeling, Meia could see right through the facade and watched the girl from Pluto walk out of the mess hall without so much as another word Upon reaching the park and sure that no one could see her, Misty finally admitted to herself that she was now alone, she had no family, no friends and now she had absolutely no chance with the guy she had a crush on, the pressure and the loneliness had finally gotten to her and brought her to tears.

Having followed Misty from the mess hall to the ship's garden Meia had saw the girl break into tears, with things as they are and also knowing how hard it is to feel isolated and lonely the Dread commander approached the crimson eyed girl. "Misty." She tried to sound as sincere as possible while not trying to startle her at the same time

Misty wiped the tears on her sleeve before speaking "What do you want now? If it's a lecture I don't feel like hearing it." She looked at up Meia scornfully and tried to tidy herself.

"There's no reason to act so tough and believe me you're never all by yourself when you're with us. We are allies in the fight against the Harvest. "Meia however didn't waver and looked at her understandably, the Meia from before would have done the same thing and try to hide her feelings from everyone else.

"Thank you." Misty cried into Meia's chest and embraced her whole-heartedly, grateful that someone had finally accepted her as part of the crew and as a friend.

Frustration and irritation had finally taken a hold of Jura as her patience had finally reached its limits, this was mainly due to Dita and Hibiki still being too hesitant to talk to each other however the invisible wall between them soon gave way and they began speaking, even if they were nervous. "Uh...you know-" The Tarak male began, finally working up the nerve to speak his mind.

"Yes? What is it?" The red haired girl waited with anticipation and hung off of Hibiki's every word.

The Taraak male struggled to say the right words, still embarrassed about the situation and both his pride and his hear continued to struggle with each other "Uh...well...you know..." he stuttered

"They're so irritating!" Jura began biting into a napkin as the tension, anticipation and her impatience began to overwhelm her, they were so close to seeing if a Taraak male and Mejeran female could really overcome their differences and get together, the suspense was literally killing killing her.

Hibiki could feel the words starting to form properly in his mind as he felt his courage starting to return to him. _"Actually...I...uh...I...well...uh...how do I say it?" _he wondered. "Tell me Mister Alien." Dita was now getting excited and her eyes began to sparkle, anxious to hear what he had to say.

"I'm only saying this once. So listen up! I mean, I uh...you...ah...I lo-" However before Hibiki could finish his sentence the ship's alarm sounded and interrupted his train of thought.

Dita who had snapped out of her own daze looked around the room trying to figure out whether they were underattack or not "What is it?" she wondered why the alarms were going off.

To much of the disappointment of the crew, the screens that had been showing the conversation between Dita and Hibiki disappeared all over the ship "Okay show's over! Back to your stations!" Barnette clapped to get the attention of the Reg crew so they'd go back to their stations just in case they were about to head into battle and had to start taking orders from the pilots.

Taking her seat Ezra looked at the console and saw the frequency that was being used for an incoming message, unfortunately the vessels in the universe the Nirvana had now found itself in had low bandwidth communications and thus had to be set to the International Rescue Channel so that the _Nirvana_ and the _JELLICOE_ could communicate more clearly however it was because of this that alarms on the ship were occassionally set off. "Captain! We're receiving a priority message from the _JELLICOE_." The mother of one said in her usual gentle tone.

Magno mused and looked over to B.C. and nodded, although it was a pain to rely on someone else, it would be too big of a risk to go around fumbling in the dark without a solid plan"It's been a while since we heard from them. Let's see what they have to say." she looked over to Ezra who them press a few buttons on her console which activate a direct line of communication to the ex-Earth Alliance vessel "To what do we owe the pleasure of your call captain?" she wondered, a little cheek in her voice.

As soon as Magno read the sober expression on Theodore's face her own features almost mimicked his wondering what was going on and what kind of news would make the seasoned war veteran so weary._"I think you're entire crew needs to hear this."_ he said trying to mentally prepare himself to make the announcement for a second time in one day.After seeing Magno nood to her communication's officer, Theodore Dupont cleared his throat and began making the uneasy of telling the crew of the _Nirvana_ about what had happened moments earlier. _"Today at 2100 GMT, a group of extremist Coordinators dropped a portion of Junius Seven on Earth. The casualties are expected to be in the hundreds of thousands. As a result we expect tensions between the PLANT homeland and the Earth Alliance to increase and quite possibly lead to war."_ In addition to telling them about the fall of the colony on the blue, green planet he also transmitted the images that were being transmitted not only all over Earth Alliance territory but also through out the PLANT homeland. Everyone was shocked to hear what had happened and the images of the pieces of Junius Seven plummeting to Earth and striking the surface of the planet, causing a mix of fear and concern to wash over the crew of the Nirvana.

_"On another note we've been able to get a contract with the Deep Space Survey Development Organisation." _Captain Theodore Dupont began.

Magno frowned from beneath the hood of her rober and stared at the large image of the leader of the mercenary group "And how does that involve us?" she wondered what he possibly had installed for them and how this lead could help them to get back to their own universe

_"They need help with organising their security forces after the death of the head of security they need assistance in defence and with their help they may be able to find an anomaly to get you back to your own universe and you'll be able to resupply."_ The aging captain of the ex-Earth Alliance vessel informed the captain and commander of the _Nirvana_ of the plan, while ensuring that it sounded like he was making a suggestion to them rather than demand

Magno considered the request that had been proposed by the _JELLICOE_''s captain carefully. Even though they were only getting one person for two pilots, it would be advantageous to them to have someone who knew this universe to help them to get on their own feet so they wouldn't habe to rely on outsiders t help them get back home and to familiar surroundings. "That sounds acceptable." she replied trying to hide the cautiousness in her voice.

Although Theodore Dupont was conscious of the other captain's caution he dismissed it and continued. _"Before you head out we would like you to transfer Miss Elden and Miss Gisborn to our ship so they can head down and work with one of our teams on the Earth's surface. Because your duties with DSSD will be primarily consultant work, we'll let you keep Miss Ravensbruck on board." _The captain of the Nelson-class vessel tried to even out the trade of talent so that they would have some sort of idea of how to deal with people and that they wouldn't start thinking that he was asking too much of them.

Magno closed her eyes briefly as she thought over the options that were available to her. "Very well." She eventually responded, even though she had agreed to the trade, she didn't like the fact that she had only a limited amount of control of the situation but if they were to survive she had to, for at least the time being, allow for their new allies to help and direct them in the right direction.

_"Thank you very much Captain and good luck. JELLICOE out." _The image of the captain of the _JELLICOE_ disappeared from the main screen and was once again displayed the floating debris of the space station.

"Are you sure this is wise Captain?" Buzam however wasn't certain whether they should split their forces just yet, even though they're new 'friends' had helped them with training their pilots she still didn't trust the crew of the _JELLICOE_.

Although Magno didn't like cutting her defensive forces down, she couldn't ignore the bone that Captain Dupont was throwing them "They're making good on their end so far and besides it's not like we'll be attacked for awhile." She smirked slyly, even if there was a betrayal they had a trump card in their hand.

After being reassured by the captain, BC opened the ship's internal communications system _"Jura and Meia report to the shuttle bay and prepare to depart for the JELLICOE."_ Her voice echoed throughout the ship as she ordered the women chosen for the operation to get ready to head out.

"I can't stay. I need to head out" Meia said gently and broke Misty's embrace, knowing that any sudden movements or doing anything forceful might hurt the crimson eyed girl further.

Misty let go of Meia and looked up at her with admiration. "'Kay do your best big sister." She cheered the Dread commander on.

"Huh? Ah...yeah right..." Meia replied uneasily, taking a few steps back and wondered what had just happened. In any case even though she was basically going to be under the command of a new captain, it still was a mission none-the-less and she needed to be ready however it was because she and Jura were going to be in unfamiliar surroundings that was going to make preparations hard and future battles, if any was going to be difficult to predict.

**Roxby; Oceania Union – South Australia**

Stationed at the Olympic Dam and awaiting the Zala supporters, was a Lesseps-class land battleship surrounded by five GAZuOOTs and thirteen BuCUEs. In the command centre monitoring the advance of radar operator stifled a yawn, after watching the steady march of the terrorist cell the operator was becoming bored however he soon perked up when his screen started to beep loudly as a new signal appeared on his screen. "Sir! We have another contact incoming and fast!" he called out to his superior whom marched over to the radar operator's station.

"Another unit won't make a difference at this point." the commander of the Carpentaria Base said arrogantly, as he watched the tactical display that showed the topographical layout of the surrounding area and the position of their BuCUEs and GAZuOOTs compared to the terrorist's GINN OCHERs and Insurgent Type GINNs.

As the forces of the Zala supporters made their way towards the dam, the lead unit detected an incoming mobile suit on an intercept course and raised the arm of his own mobile suit to stop their group's advance and zoomed in on the approaching machine that sped towards them. "Unit 20? That's Blex's machine." The leader of the terrorist cell said to himself, wondering why the machine that was supposed to be on standby had sortied "Blex! I thought I ordered you to remain on standby. BLEX! RESPOND DAMN IT!" the terrorist cell leader called out to the ZGMF-1017 Insurgent Type GINN however got no response as the machine continued in a straight line towards their location and the pilot stared intently at the screen before him.

**Ending - Reason by Nami Tamaki**

What is it that makes one fight? Is it to protect, is it to gain something or is it for entirely different reason? No one is ever certain of the true answer. While Meia and Jura prepare to leave for Earth, Kazuki continues his pursuit of the terrorist forces that plan to destroy ZAFT's Carpentaria Base. What is the meaning behind this fight? Will an answer be found or shall the question forever go unanswered? Next on Vandread SEED Destiny: Approach. BuCUE chase away the confusion!


	5. Approach

**Vandread is property of Gonzo and Media Factory animation studios**

**Gundam SEED is property of Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment.**

**Kazuki Uraki and all other OCs mentioned are owned by yours truly**.

**A/N: **I'd like to start off by apologizing for the last chapter being so long. JC please remember that the women from Mejere and men from Taraak have not had their children enhanced in anyway, and as we heard in the first series of Gundam SEED birthrates between second and third generation Coordinators were dropping and ultimately leading to genetic saturation and sterility, which would defeat the original plans of the Earth in the Vandread universe (In the second episode of Vandread Second Stage it was explained that the Earth had attempted genetic manipulation to prevent sterility and had failed with horrible consequences). You also need to remember that in Episode 8 of Vandread, Magno said that Missions were used during the **Terraforming Period** and later Belvedere said in the first episode of Vandread Second Stage that Misty's pod was using a rescue and recognition code from the **Frontier Era**, adding the appearance and conditions of Anpathos in can be surmised that the planets closet to Earth and subsequent 'Missions' that they were completely terraformed however those farthest away took longer and had only their atmosphere's converted to support organic life.

On Mejere the Fama has the ovum artificially inseminated with DNA from the Ohma and they are born naturally. As for Taraak as far as I can tell would use artificial uteri, thus the males percieving children being born in factories (A good example of this process would be the cloning facility on Kamino in Star Wars: Episode II). In the end making Mejerans or Taraak Males coordinators would not be viable for either plot and with what is in the above paragraph there would be no need for genetic manipulation. At this stage I am not considering the other women on getting together with anyone else, because this is just the backdrop for things to come and as for Dita and Hibiki their relationship will follow the canon of the anime. With that aside here is chapter five.

* * *

**Vandread SEED Destiny: Phase 05 - Approach**

_"Today at 2100 GMT, a group of extremist Coordinators dropped a portion of Junius Seven on Earth. The casualties are expected to be in the hundreds of thousands. As a result we expect tensions between the PLANT homeland and the Earth Alliance to increase and quite possibly lead to war."_ In addition to telling them about the fall of the colony on the blue, green planet he also transmitted the images that were being transmitted not only all over Earth Alliance territory but also through out the PLANT homeland. Everyone was shocked to hear what had happened and the images of the pieces of Junius Seven plummeting to Earth and striking the surface of the planet, causing a mix of fear and concern to wash over the crew of the Nirvana.

Although Theodore Dupont was conscious of the other captain's caution he dismissed it and continued. _"Before you head out we would like you to transfer Miss Elden and Miss Gisborn to our ship so they can head down and work with one of our teams on the Earth's surface. Because your duties with DSSD will be primarily consultant work, we'll let you keep Miss Ravensbruck on board." _The captain of the Nelson-class vessel tried to even out the trade of talent so that they would have some sort of idea of how to deal with people and that they wouldn't start thinking that he was asking too much of them.

As the forces of the Zala supporters made their way towards the dam, the lead unit detected an incoming mobile suit on an intercept course and raised the arm of his own mobile suit to stop their group's advance and zoomed in on the approaching machine that sped towards them. "Unit 20? That's Blex's machine." The leader of the terrorist cell said to himself, wondering why the machine that was supposed to be on standby had sortied "Blex! I thought I ordered you to remain on standby. BLEX! RESPOND DAMN IT!" the terrorist cell leader called out to the ZGMF-1017 Insurgent Type GINN however got no response as the machine continued in a straight line towards their location and the pilot stared intently at the screen before him.

**Opening - Ignited by T.M. Revolution**

Heat rose from the sun baked sand of the Australian desert, distorting the air and creating the illusion of water on the ground, ground which Kazuki now's GINN Insurgent type now crossed like a god walking across an ocean. Once he was within range of the terrorist forces, the monocular eye of the GINN variant flashed red as it identified its targets. Flexing his fingers and grasping the controls of the mobile suit, Kazuki charged the nearest enemy machine and forced his heavy sword between the canopy hatch and the torso plating to pry open the cockpit however the terrorist forces who were at first stunned by the sudden attack had now regained their senses and surrounded the GINN Insurgent type. Kazuki anticipated their action raised the GINN OCHER on the end of his sword and used it as a shield to absorb the fire from his enemies, the terrorists saw that they hitting their own ally and hesitated for an instant however it was during this brief moment to smash into an enemy unit directly opposite him by using his hostage like a ram. The impact of the two mobile suits hitting each other forced the hatch of the first machine to come loose and as a consequence the occupant had been impaled by the massive heavy sword, spilling blood over the cockpit and the blade itself, using the momentum Kazuki shifted the weight of the mobile suit forward with the help of the GINN's thrusters and fell forward then throwing the bladed weapon at the next opponent, lodging it in their camera and then turned his attention to the GINN OCHER that was now getting back to his feet. Even though he had managed to kill one pilot and had survived this far, Kazuki knew that his movements were getting slower, thanks to the pain from his wounds he had received from assaulting the rogue soldiers who still supported Patrick Zala's intentions. If the battle was drawn out any longer the drug would wear off and he would be at the mercy of both the terrorist cell and his injuries.

As battle continued to rage on uninterrupted, the commander of the Carpentaria Base watched the battle unfold on a monitor at one of the stations on the starboard side. _'What's going on down there?'_ the commander mused to himself, trying to sort out why the terrorist faction was fighting amongst themselves. "Sir what are we going to do?" one of the signallers asked watching the video feed from the AWACS DINN that was surveying the area. It didn't take long for the base commander to come up with a course of action, although he didn't know why the renegade soldiers were fighting amongst their own he knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Have the Lous Team fire a barrage of missiles at the enemy mobile suits, meanwhile the Acre Team will circle around them and cut off their escape. Once the terrorists have been halted the Lous Team will finish up by using the beam sabres to cut them down." he gave out orders to the two teams of BuCUEs. Although both teams were essentially using the same machine, each one had been separate roles within this small skirmish to maximise their effectiveness, Lous Team was a team of missle launcher equipped BuCUEs that would work in an Artillery Support and then be switched to clean after the Acre Team had fulfilled their duty of harassing the enemies with their rail gun equipped BuCUEs. "Don't let a single one survive." The commander emphasized the mission's objective.

**JELLICOE; L 1 – Yggdrassil Debris Field**

A box shaped launch approached the hangar of the Nelson-class vessel, lined up near the landing pad ready to greet the new arrivals the captain and crew of the ex-Earth Alliance watched as the craft fired its descent thrusters and gently came to a rest on the hangar floor and then lowered the boarding ramp, revealing two Mejeran women from the _Nirvana_, one with short light-blue hair and the other with long blonde hair but regardless of their difference in appearance they both had the same effect of making the jaw's of the male crew members drop due to the tight fitting clothing they were wearing. "Welcome aboard the _JELLICOE_, I am Captain Theodore Dupont. I take it that you're the two who'll be joining my men on the surface?" The captain shook the hands of the two Mejeran women while trying to hide the shade of pink forming on his cheeks from embarrassment.

"Yes. I'm Meia and this is Jura." The light blue haired woman gestured to herself and to her comrade

"A pleasure to meet you both. When we arrive you'll be taken to the spaceport and board an unmarked shuttle headed for Carpentaria Base. I do take it that you have suitable clothing for the journey?" The elderly male captain began leading them towards the nearest door that would lead towards the interior of the ship and tried to avert his gaze so he wouldn't be looking them over like some sort of old lecherous pervert from a manga or anime.

Jura looked at the captain of the _JELLICOE _incredously at how this man was questioning her fashion sense. "Suitable clothing? What's wrong with what we're wearing now?" She said with a grouchy tone in her voice.

"Errr...Sarah before they head to the spaceport they'll need some appropriate attire so they won't get any unwanted attention." The captain turned to the _JELLCIOE_'s CIC operator and that was when the new arrivals finally realised what Theodore had meant by suitable clothing, needless to say Meia couldn't help but feel irritated by the stares she was recieving while Jura on the other hand continued to egg them on and was enjoying the attention she was recieving.

The CIC operator's eyes opened wide in excited anticipation at what the captain was ordering her to do. "You don't mean? Let's all go shopping, I already have an idea of what to get you!" The young woman raced over to the Mejeran's and had already struck up a conversation with the blonde about the kind of clothes they were going to buy.

Ignoring the chatter between the CIC operator and Jura, Meia turned to the aging captain of the ex-Earth Alliance vessel and ignored the constant stares from the male crewmembers of the _JELLICOE_ "How long until we arrive to...?" she began, wanting to know when the mission officially started so she could finish it as soon as possible and return to her duties back aboard the _Nirvana._

"We'll arrive at Copernicus in two hours because of the route we're taking, I'll have my CO take you to your quarters." Knowing where her question was headed Theodore Dupont cut her off and couldn't help but draw comparisons between Meia and Kazuki's 'straight to business' attitude. Once they reached the hangar's exit, the captain gestured to his second in command who had been standing near the metal door that hissed open.

The light blue haired Mejeran nodded in response "Thank you captain." she and Jura then began walking beside the commander, following him to their assigned room for the trip to the lunar base.

Watching the new arrivals disappear down the hall, the captain dismissed the greeting party and picked up the phone on a nearby wall and keyed in the code to the bridge of the Nelson-class vessel. "Hangar to the bridge, let's get underway." The aging man ordered the helmsman to set the coordinates for Copernicus and to make best possible speed so they'd be able to get their 'guests' to their destination on time.

An hour had past and after a tour of the ship, Meia had settled nicely aboard the ship and felt more comfortable due to the crew's disciplined attitude when it came to their duties, Jura on the other hand was another matter entirely "Geez I can't believe that we're stuck on this thing for another hour. The people seem nice but it's so boring." the blonde haired woman from Mejere complained about the lack of distractions aboard the ex-Earth Alliance vessel as she joined her friend on the balcony that looked into the hangar of the Nelson-class vessel. Unlike the _Nirvana_, the _JELLICOE_ being an ex-military vessel had very few creature comforts aboard it, the only exceptions to this was a shipboard gym and a movie night, which wasn't scheduled to start until after both Meia and Jura had left for the planet's surface.

"It can't be helped Jura, the captain made a deal and we have to make good on our end." Meia said dryly glancing behind her and followed Jura's movements, watching the blonde stand next to her at the railing and facing away from the main deck.

Even being sent to another universe didn't seem to have any effect on the squad commander that much and that irritated the blonde about how calmly her comrade had accepted the situation that they were in. Letting out an exasperated sigh and turned around to look over the railing. "Still it doesn't mean I have to like it. Hey isn't that...?" she began, finally noticing the white-black 105 Dagger with the Buster Dagger next to it at the far end of the hangar and near the starboard catapult.

"The machine that saved Hibiki." Meia said mildly, although there had been other machines present during the battle with the other pirates the 105 Dagger had stood out, not because of its colour scheme but because of both the performance and because of the perfect timing of the rescue. "Apparently it's an older version of what we were using to train in." the light blue haired young woman added thoughtfully, unlike Jura who had used the time they had spent so far aboard the _JELLICOE_ to talk about clothes with the soon to be tour guide, Meia had taken the time to read up on who they were going to be paired up with and the data from the last engagement.

Jura turned to her comrade allowing to a questioning look to appear on her face, wondering why a person would choose to pilot something outdated when there was a more newer model available. "Does that mean the pilot was good or...?" she began to wonder if the pilots in this universe were stronger or the other pirates just had some technological edge over them that they didn't know about however needless to say, the thought of being at the mercy of another pirate group's hands had a significant impact on the crew of the _Nirvana_ and what had compounded the fact was that they were saved by a group that had been hired to rid the area of pirate activity, it was fortunate for them that their ship didn't look like a warship from the outside and that their captain hadn't mentioned that they _were_ pirates.

"Now's not the time to worry about that kind of thing." Although Meia knew where the conversation was headed but she didn't want to become concerned over something trivial and in the past but she did notice that even though she had trained to use mobile suits with Jura, their performance compared to that of the one who had piloted the 105 Dagger seemed amateurish at best. "Once we meet up with them, we'll be able to see their abilities for ourselves." She tried to hide the irritation in her voice at having reached a wall in her own abilities as a pilot and having that goal now completely out of her reach.

"I suppose it'll be alright if they're cute." Jura then remembered about her plan to become a huge celebrity on Mejere by becoming pregnant with a man's 'seed' and being on a planet that had men that were already accustomed to the idea it would make the gathering information on how she would obtain this so-called 'seed' and if she approved of the method would then proceed to do so, pending if the suitor was of suitable appearance.

Even though the blue haired young woman knew that her blonde compatriot had plans of becoming pregnant with a man's 'seed' however she didn't expect her to still attempt to pursue that goal here. "Jura...You're still on about that?" The Dread commander said with an exhausted sigh.

Jura gave Meia a sideways glance and smiled slightly "What? Just because we're stranded here for now doesn't mean we will be stranded forever." "Besides it doesn't mean I can't have a little fun with this." she gave her commander a wink however Meia groaned at Jura's antics she let it go, after all it wouldn't be right if the blonde haired woman acted any different and in an alien environment it paid to savour the familiar.

**Roxby; Oceania Union – South Australia**

Black smoke rose into the air as another GINN OCHER fell limp and crashed to the ground in a pile of twisted and broken metal, as the flames licked the air of the Australian outback the pilot of the Insurgent Type could feel his energy gradually drain from his body and considering that he was facing off against veterans from the last war doubted that his opponents hadn't notice the change in his movements. "He's slowing down, we can take him." One of the younger members of the terrorist cell said eagerly with renewed vigor and spirits. Noticing the change in the posture of the terrorists Kazuki withdrew the heavy sword of his machine from the burning wreck of his most recent kill, metal creaked as the blade scraped the edges of the gash and revealed a blood soaked tip smeared with the pink-grey entrails of the pilot that had been impaled on the large sword. Still unsure of how to consider the actions of the GINN Insurgent type the supporters of Patrick Zala hesitated slightly before raising their weapons at the machine that had dared to kill two of their comrades, unfortuanetly before they could spring into action the proximity alarms sounded as missiles launched from ZAFT BuCUE team initiated the first stage of the attack. "What the...? Scatter!" The group leader shouted to his subordinates almost immediately after detecting the incoming missiles that hailed down onto their location.

Kazuki on the other hand was able to launch himself into the air and narrowly missed being hit but only by a small margin. Landing his GINN on the desert sand once again the pilot of the commandeered mobile suit used the frequency given to him by the base commander of the Carpentaria Base and opened a direct line of communications to any and all ZAFT units, hoping to stop or at least delay the barrage. "This is mercenary unit Alpha-Three-Two-Six-One of Liberator PMC to ZAFT Forces, respond." The Lieutenant demanded that the terresterial military forces of the PLANT homeland replied to his call.

There was a brief crackle from the speakers as the communications was opened between the GINN Insurgent Type and the Lesseps-class land battleship that watched over the battle. _"Alpha-Three-Two-Six-One you are not supposed to be in this area, you are in violation of the contract." _A familar voice responded to Kazuki's demands and wanted to know why the mercenary was participating in the battle and operating outside of the agreed contract.

The brunette combat coordinator frowned at the accussation that was being thrown at him. Albeit that it appeared he was breaking the guidelines set out by the contract by actively participating in a battle that involved the ZAFT forces, however from another point of view he was securing a route in which he could withdrawl to safety. _"I am following the contract by retreating however this force stands between me and Carpentaria Base."_ An explosion briefly distorted the image of Kazuki as he attempted to reason with the base commander, while he fought off both his own fatigue and attempted to hold his own against the veteran forces from the last war.

"I'll call off the barrage for now but whether you live or die doesn't concern me. As of now you are on your own and your superiors will be hearing about this." The irritation at having to call off the initial attack was evident in the voice of Carpentaria's base commander and he still couldn't get over the fact that the mercenaries they had hired would act outside of their contract, however the recent development wouldn't hinder the second wave of the mission as long as the mercenary didn't directly interfere with formation of the BuCUEs.

Kazuki didn't even seemed concerned with the implications of becoming an allied casualty if he insisted on continuing to fight in the battle. "That's fine by me. I'm transferring the IFF code of the mobile suit, now." he brought the GINN's keyboard across his lap and began transmitting the IFF signal to the Lesseps-class land battleship that had been watching the battle from a safe distance.

As the BuCUEs of the Acre Team entered the battle firing their powerful railguns at the terrorist cell, the leader of the Zala Supporters gritted his teeth and seethed with anger as he watched the ZAFT units racing onto the battlefield and picking apart his troops, not only that but they had been humiliated by someone who dared to attack them in a stolen mobile suit."I refuse to let those weaklings beat us! Be careful this one looks like he's a veteran, fire some smoke to hide your approach while you take care of the BuCUEs and as for me, I'll take care of the hijacker." he spat, giving orders to his subordinates and raised the heavy axe of his GINN OCHER into attack position. _"Yes sir."_ the remaining troops said in unison and dispersed.

As the combat zone became covered with a thick cloud of smoke, the leader of the terrorist cell launched himself at Kazuki who was panting heavily and trying hard to focus on his main monitor because the drugs to maintain and sustain his body in combat began to wear off, the terrorist commander was able to catch the combat coordinator off guard and inflict heavy damage on the right arm of the GINN Insurgent Type. Responding to the sudden jolt created by the impact of the heavy axe on the armour of the stolen mobile suit, Kazuki engaged the thrusters of the GINN and leaped out of reach of the enemy unit however it was thanks to the attack that he was able to take note of the damage inflicted on the joints by the desert sand and the remaining power left in the battery. "Functionality of the left and right legs are down to seventy-two percent, right arm is at eighty-five percent. Power level is down to three-hundred." Like the terrorist in front of him Kazuki did not want to be defeated and was willing to put his own life on the line to secure victory at any cost.

Missiles sailed through the air from the launchers mounted on the legs of his mobile suit and impacted on the ground just inches infront of the enemy and blew sand and dust into the air, creating enough of a cover to hide his next attack. Pushing the throttle forward of his machine Kazuki circled around the cloud that he had created before it had time disappeared and brought the large heavy sword to bear, only for it to meet the heavy axe of the enemy GINN OCHER. Both sword and axe ground against each other, creating sparks as both machines fought for control over the other. "Why? Why do you allow yourself to be used by those weaklings on the Council? Those fools have allowed themselves to be blinded by dreams and the fantasy that Durandal has created for them. Those fucking Naturals can never be trusted and they're getting what they deserve! I will make them pay with every inch of my being!" he shouted angrily over an open link between the OCHER and Insurgent type.

His words had finally struck a cord with Kazuki, the man before him was completely blind by the final stages of the war. "So you're going to kill every single last one? Even those who helped ZAFT and the coordinators?" He responded in his usual cool and calm voice "You're no better than Blue Cosmos." he stated coldly to the terrorist leader, adding insult to the mounting injuries.

An explosion flashed near the duel between Kazuki and the commander, dispersing the remaining smoke and giving the pilots a clear view of the battlefield, showing that terrorist cell had been all but annihilated saved for the leader. "How dare you...DON'T EVEN COMPARE US TO THEM!" The OCHER forced the Insurgent Type back however using the momentum to his advandtage, Kazuki fired thruster and in one movement detached the heavy assualt machine gun from its holster while spinning around until he was face-to-face with the terrorist commander's unit once again. Aiming the rifle at the right arm of the opposing mobile suit, Kazuki emptied the clip of the large machine gun into the joint until the axe fell lifelessly to the ground. "Gah!" Was the last thing the leader of the terrorist cell said as the hardened metal of the heavy sword pierced through the cockpit and the pilot inside, coating the tip of the blade in crimson red. With blood seeping through the opening created by the heavy sword the battlefield fell silent, it was then that the injuries Kazuki had sustained earlier had overwhelmed his senses and the pain had become too much to bear that he bit down hard on his lower lip to stop himself from screaming and drew blood in the process.

Back at the Lesseps-class Land Battleship "It's over sir and it looks like that the mercenary took out the leader of this cell." One of the NCOs in charge of analysing the data that was being sent from the AWACs DINN informed his superior of the destruction of the last mobile suit that had belonged to the leader of the terrorist cell.

The base commander let out a sigh after hearing the battle had finally ended and hoped that the PLANT Supreme Council woild be happy with the results, giving the order to kill those who had once been allies had left a bitter taste in his mouth. "Very good. Call back our forces and inform them to return to base, that goes for the mercenary as well." the commander felt a slight bit of irritation that they partially owned their victory to an outside force that wasn't their owned, however he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouse and had enough modesty to show some gratitude.

As the dust began to settle and the orders were being sent out to all of the units under the command of ZAFT's Carpentaria base, the signaller in charge of relaying the commanding officer's orders to the pilots that had sortied for the battle noticed that one of the units hadn't moved or responded to the orders at all. "Sir the GINN doesn't seem to be moving." The NCO aboard the land battleship apprised his commanding officer of what he was seeing on his monitors and the lack of movement from the mercenary unit.

"Let me see, mercenary unit Alpha-Three-Two-Six-One please respond. _Mercenary unit Alpha-Three-Two-Six-One do you copy? Respond! Get a unit over there and see what the problem is. I'll inform the Supreme Council that the last of the terrorists are dead."_ The voice of the commander of ZAFT's Carpentaria base came over the speakers of the GINN Insurgent type however there was no response as Kazuki hung loosely in his seat and unresponsive to all outside stimuli.

"Yes that's right, he's still strong but the distractions are proving to be troublesome. Don't worry about that, it won't be a problem." He reassured the person on the other end, fortunately for Matthew Jameson the conversation seemed ordinary enough that no matter who was listening in on it wouldn't immediately pick up on what they were discussing and even if no one was it never hurt to be cautious. "Not a problem at all." the dark haired man said with finality looking at the prisoner that had been left in his care with sadistic and uncaring eyes. With a click of the safety being released, Matthew slowly pulled the trigger back and the hammer creaking as it extended as far as it could go.

The commander of the rundown base however didn't waver and showed no fear as to what was to come but he refused to go quietly "You filthy Natural scum will get what is coming to you and you will wish-" the preaching was brought to an abrupt end by a sharp bang and a mix of bone, muscle, sinew and blood that spilled across the hot pavement and pooled underneath the now lifeless body of the Zala supporter. Many would call this a cold blooded murder however if those who had lost family members and loved one's to the Junius Drop been there, they would have called it justice

**Ending – Reason by Nami Tamaki**

As Meia and Jura prepare to head to Earth, the Alliance makes their move against the PLANT homeland. While the light of Nuclear fire shines brightly in the sky what has happened to Kazuki Uraki and what secrets lurk in the shadows? Next on Vandread SEED Destiny: The Seeds of War. ZAKU defend the honour of ZAFT!


	6. Seeds of War

**Vandread is property of Gonzo and Media Factory animation studios**

**Gundam SEED is property of Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment.**

**Kazuki Uraki and all other OCs mentioned are owned by yours truly**.

**A/N: **Well for those that have been following the story so far and favourited it, I'd like to thank you for your patience.

JC, although Hibiki has transferred over to the SEED universe, he will not develop the infamous SEED burst mode due to the fact he already has the link with the _Nirvana_'s Paksis and Super Vandread at his disposal, developing anymore perks for him would be out of the question because he already has more than enough power and he wasn't born in the SEED universe. All that _can_ be done for Hibiki is character development (this also includes the piloting skill increase). Other than that I appreciate your support. On another subject, I have plans for three more series and I need your help in compiling a list for the last one which will be called Vandread SEED Universe. VSU will be a series that not only includes the Vandread-Gundam SEED crossover but also adds other anime/manga to the pot, and that's where you all come in. Go to the forums and find DarkInfinities hub in the general boards and add your anime/manga choice, with a reason why it should be added and a possible scenario of how the group will meet. I do not want scenarios that is filled with nothing but pure fanwank, so keep it within reason. For more please see the rules in the thread.

With that out of the way, on with chapter six.

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**Vandread SEED Destiny: Phase 06 - Seeds of War**

A box shaped launch approached the hangar of the Nelson-class vessel, lined up near the landing pad ready to greet the new arrivals the captain and crew of the ex-Earth Alliance watched as the craft fired its descent thrusters and gently came to a rest on the hangar floor and then lowered the boarding ramp, revealing two Mejeran women from the _Nirvana_, one with short light-blue hair and the other with long blonde hair but regardless of their difference in appearance they both had the same effect of making the jaw's of the male crew members drop due to the tight fitting clothing they were wearing. "Welcome aboard the _JELLICOE_, I am Captain Theodore Dupont. I take it that you're the two who'll be joining my men on the surface?" The captain shook the hands of the two Mejeran women while trying to hide the shade of pink forming on his cheeks from embarrassment.

"Yes. I'm Meia and this is Jura." The light blue haired woman gestured to herself and to her comrade

"A pleasure to meet you both. When we arrive you'll be taken to the spaceport and board an unmarked shuttle headed for Carpentaria Base. I do take it that you have suitable clothing for the journey?" The elderly male captain began leading them towards the nearest door.

Jura turned to her comrade allowing to a questioning look to appear on her face, wondering why a person would choose to pilot something outdated when there was a more newer model available. "Does that mean the pilot was good or...?" she began to wonder if the pilots in this universe were stronger or the other pirates just had some technological edge over them that they didn't know about however needless to say, the thought of being at the mercy of another pirate group's hands had a significant impact on the crew of the _Nirvana_ and what had compounded the fact was that they were saved by a group that had been hired to rid the area of pirate activity, it was fortunate for them that their ship didn't look like a warship from the outside and that their captain hadn't mentioned that they _were_ pirates.

"Now's not the time to worry about that kind of thing." Although Meia knew where the conversation was headed but she didn't want to become concerned over something trivial and in the past but she did notice that even though she had trained to use mobile suits with Jura, their performance compared to that of the one who had piloted the 105 Dagger seemed amateurish at best. "Once we meet up with them, we'll be able to see their abilities for ourselves." She tried to hide the irritation in her voice at having reached a wall in her own abilities as a pilot and having that goal now completely out of her reach.

As the dust began to settle and the orders were being sent out to all of the units under the command of ZAFT's Carpentaria base, the signaller in charge of relaying the commanding officer's orders to the pilots that had sortied for the battle noticed that one of the units hadn't moved or responded to the orders at all. "Sir the GINN doesn't seem to be moving." The NCO aboard the land battleship appraised his commanding officer of what he was seeing on his monitors and the lack of movement from the mercenary unit.

"Let me see, mercenary unit Alpha-Three-Two-Six-One please respond. _Mercenary unit Alpha-Three-Two-Six-One do you copy? Respond! Get a unit over there and see what the problem is. I'll inform the Supreme Council that the last of the terrorists are dead."_ The voice of the commander of ZAFT's Carpentaria base came over the speakers of the GINN Insurgent type however there was no response as Kazuki hung loosely in his seat and unresponsive to all outside stimuli.

**Opening - Ignited by T.M. Revolution**

The news of the defeat and subsequent annihilation of the last of the Patrick Zala supporters had reached the PLANTs however at the same time an ultimatum from the Earth Alliance had been sent to the Supreme Council, demanding outrageous requests that they knew would be outright refused and of course would give them an excuse to attack the PLANT homeland. But regardless of what new excuses the people at Logos come up with for their puppets to use, the methods they use to attack are always the same or this was what Captain George Bucard thought anyway as the shuttle he was aboard was cleared by Arzachel's traffic controller. "Those fools may be able to pump out reasons to go to war but they have no idea how to run one." The aging man flipped through the pages from the Earth Alliance's new headquarters, Heaven's Base. "Blue Cosmos is predictable as always, using nuclear warheads whenever they can and of course ZAFT will be looking for the force carrying them." he said to his bodyguard and the first successful product of the Extended Combat Coordinator Program.

Subject Alpha looked at his 'master' out of the corner of his eye with a cold uncaring look on his face. "They have chosen a path that usually is overlooked." he replied simply.

Placing the sheets inside his briefcase "ZAFT did develop the Neutron Jammers, Neutron Jammer Cancellers and G.E.N.E.S.I.S." The Earth Alliance captain furrowed his brows in deep concentration. "They're all nuclear based technologies and whose to say that they haven't developed something else? Those fools who run Blue Cosmos don't seem able to grasp that simple fact." he sighed, "We cannot afford to fight recklessly and assume that shock and awe tactics will always work in our favour. Weapons and their components can be recycled however defeat after defeat will effect dampen the flames for war and if we keep sustaining losses there will be no one left to fill uniforms." Reclining back in his chair the elderly man eyed the Combat Coordinator next to him. "Either way it will be enough of a distraction to keep both sides busy until my pet project has been completed." A small, yet sinister grin krept across his face as dangerous thoughts began to play through the old man's mind.

"As you say sir." The blonde haired, seventeen year old male said dispassionately to the Earth Alliance captain and director of the Extended Combat Coordinator Program. Upon the arrival of Shuttle six-zero-eight at gate twelve the Earth Alliance had sent their final warning to the PLANT government however as far as the Bucard could tell from the whispers amongst the enlisted personnel that he passed in the halls was that the Supreme Council was doing their best to placate the politicians of both the Atlantic and Eurasian Federation while managing to deploy their own defence forces to meet the assault of fleet amassed by the Earth Alliance.

**Unknown Location; Lord Djibril's Mansion - Underground Compound**

As the Earth Alliance's space forces were launched from Arzachel Lunar Base, a man with purple stained lips watched from a secured bunker as the fleet began their journey towards the home of the people referred to as coordinators "Now to matters at hand." he stroked his Russian blue pet cat, "When is the attack scheduled to take place? Soon I hope." he said some what impatiently with the same sort of calmness in his tone that you'd expect from a politician.

_"I'm afraid it's not that cut and dry Djibril. You sir are impatient." _The president of the Atlantic responded with good humour. _"The PLANTs still want to keep negotiating and in fact have taken numerous measures to placate us, as well there are still some nations rejecting our initiatives, taking dramatic action at this time may only-" _He began, trying to convince the leader of Blue Cosmos that a pre-emptive strike may prove to be detrimental to their efforts and it may turn the world against them before the planned war even begins.

Lord Djibril sighed "I thought I already explained this, once the PLANTs are out of the picture all this commotion will fade away. When they're gone and forgotten, who in the world could possibly oppose us? The Equatorial Union? The Kingdom of Scandanavia? Ahhh...Orb must be the one you're afraid of." He listed off all of the nations that had been at one-stage neutral countries, which were up until the Junius Seven drop. However even before he started guessing, Djibril already knew it was the Orb Union that had the president of the Atlantic Federation so concerned, all he wanted to do was just rub the politician's own weakness in his face.

President Copeland coughed trying to hide his embarrassment from Azrael's successor, _"That nation is...yes that's the one." _Djibril's puppet within the Atlantic Federation finally admitted his concerns over the small island nation. In the previous war the Orb Union proved itself to be quite the stubborn opponent and like Uzumi Nara Athha, his daughter was proving difficult to negotiate with and looked as if they may very well side with the PLANTs if they pushed for war without a probable cause.

"Ha! That speck of a country." The silver haired said with nothing but contempt, unlike the other nations which had all but fallen into line and joined the World Security Treaty the Orb Union was proving to be just as stubborn as it had been in the past and this refusal to comply with his demands was something that he couldn't stand. "Think of the world as a system, it needs people who build things and other people who manage things. Without people to manage it, even a garden can become a wilderness." He began, walking over to his liquor cabinet and pouring a glass of whiskey on the rocks from the decanter. "We all take care of our own gardens, planting trees, keeping the grass green, growing pretty flowers and pulling up weeds but if we just let the grass to grow as it pleased, would we really call that beautiful? Would we call that freedom?" The leader of Blue Cosmos asked but wasn't expecting an actual answer from someone who was basically a puppet of Logos.

_"Djibril..." _Copeland didn't feel comfortable about where the speech was headed.

The silver haired man twisted the top of the decanter back on and stirred the ice in the glass, before continuing with his preaching, "They may not admit it but everyone likes that sort of thing. They like places and things that are well managed, safe. Haven't people always strived to organise the world in just such a manner? Building cities, fashioning tools, making rules and now we have chance to do those things at a level, never before imagined in history." He had moved to an antique couch and stretched out into a position where he could watch the monitors in comfort "It is time. The quicker we get rid of them the sooner we can move on to the more pleasant step, and then we of Logos will tend to our beautiful garden. Let's start building a new system for the world, shall we?" Djibril lifted his glass up to toast the future he had planned for the world, that didn't include the coordinators he despised so much.

**Luna; Copernicus lunar impact crater - Copernicus City.**

As the gears of war began to turn, Meia, Jura and the female CIC operator from the _JELLICOE_ had been shopping for suitable clothes for the female pilots from the _Nirvana_ to take on their mission to Earth, the clothes that Jura modelled ranged from summer dresses to extravagant and expensive evening dresses she even went as far as to try and get Meia involved in on it but the Dread pilot had settled on more casual attire but that didn't spoil the fun of the others and continued with their show. After paying for the clothes she was to use on the excursion to this universe's version of Earth, Meia had decided to have a look around the small shopping district to investigate how these people of both men and women were able to function together, thankfully due to a red leather jacket she decided to purchase this time had lessened the number of stares from single men around her but there were a few stares of jealousy from the women about how beautiful she looked, however the blue haired Mejeren paid no mind to the attention she was recieving and focused more on the figure of a man in a suit who had appeared on a monitor in front of her. _"I have an announcement to make to the people of the world, concerning the very serious and unfortunate situation at which we find ourselves."_ the young woman continued listened as children played nearby, oblivious to the concepts of war or the implications of what the announcement meant, they were too young to be involved in matters like this and frankly Meia could help but wish they were fighting the enemies they were familiar with and dealing with the matters that threatened their own world and not dealing with someone else's problems. _"However we have yet to receive an acceptable response to our requests. As a result we have found the present government of the PLANTs to be guilty of sheltering terrorists, this government is a clear and present threat to us. Therefore as forewarned we have notified the government of the PLANTs that the nations of the Earth Alliance will now take measures to address this threat through the use of armed force. Commencing at twelve, midnight, tonight."_ The President of the Atlantic Federation announced to the people of the world, as an immense fleet created to attack the PLANT

The Earth Alliance fleet blanketed the night sky, blocking out the view of the moon due to the size of the fleet and each ship bristled with weapons ready to fire at will. As the fleet drew closer to their destination the orders to deploy their compliment of Dagger Ls and to begin their frinal preparation was given out. "_Forty-fourth battle group has launched all its machines. Authorisation code Foxtrot November. Prepare to commence operation phase 6. All units. Weapons free._" The CIC operator of the Earth Alliance space forces gave out the orders to the amassed fleet.

Anticipating the Earth Alliance's declaration of war the PLANTs had already mobilized their defence forces to meet the main attack fleet, however the Supreme Council wasn't going take any chances this time and had taken into account the that the Earth forces may attempt to use nuclear weapons and thus had sent Reconnaissance GINNs to patrol the area, so that those who have dreamed of targeting Aprilius wouldn't get the opportunity and slip by unnoticed. "_First wave is about to enter firing range. All units, weapons free._" The female CIC operator for the ZAFT forces broadcasted to all of the military units that had been deployed. The battle began when the missiles that had been launched to intercept the Earth forces had erupted in a ball of flame and illuminating the dark battlefield of space in a sea of light. As the mobile suits of the Earth Alliance and ZAFT fought each other another force lay waiting for its chance to attack, while watching the dancing luminescent, green bolts of energy that arced through the darkness of space and explosions that erupted into brilliant hue of pink. "The main fleet has engaged the enemy." The CIC operator of the Blue Cosmos flagship reported to his commanding officer, who was leading the surprise attack fleet.

"Good, all according to schedule. Now it's our turn." The bearded Captain grinned sinisterly, the bitterness towards the coordinators was clearly evident in his tone of voice as he derived great pleasure from the task given to him."_ We shall show the coordinators, once and for all that their kind has no place in our blue and pure world!_" His voice echoed throughout the separate fleet that began its approach on the PLANTs from polar orbit. As the captain's genocidal declaration ended the Earth Alliance's nuclear attack fleet launched their newest mobile suit weapon the GAT-04 Windam equipped with the Nuclear Striker. This 'striker pack' attached dual missile launchers to back of a mobile suit and housed two nuclear missiles inside them, essentially creating a mobile platform that can do twice the among of damage that the now outdated TS-MA2 Moebius mobile armour units could.

Aboard the Gondwana, ZAFT's new Super Carrier that spanned one thousand, two hundred meters long, the CIC was a buzz with chatter as it gave knew orders and announced new information to the commanding officers. "Twenty Earth Forces mobile suits detected entering area two. Third fleet proceed to orange-beta-fifteen." One of the many CIC operators for ZAFT's gigantic super carrier, the Gondwana said aloud to one of the teams operating out of the new vessel

"It appears that the enemy's main forces are targeting Aprilius and our military command structure." One of the commanders said, watching the spherical hologram of the battlefield

"That's not confirmed. Let's just keep an eye on that fleet and not miss anything crucial." Another commander said, not taking his eyes off of the display in front of him, carefully analysing the situation and following the battle as it progressed

"Anything from the patrol units?" A third commanding officer picked up a phone to get an update from the radio operators. High above the colony cluster of Aprilius, an attack wave of Windams from the Nuclear Attack Force had been discovered by a Reconaissance GINN position behind a nearby asteroid and had sent chills down the spine of the GINN's pilot after he caught a glimpse of the radioactive sign on the side of the nuclear launchers.

Back aboard the Gondwana, the report from the scout had reached the CIC "Message from polar orbit patrol unit. Detecting a separate force armed with, MARK FIVE NUCLEAR MISSILES!" the communications officer said in a state of alarm.

To say the least, when the entire CIC of the Gondwana heard the news they were absolutely shocked by this announcement and startling development "NUCLEAR?" Even the commanding officers, inside the spacious room aboard the gigantic vessel, couldn't believe that the Earth Alliance was using nuclear warheads.

"How many?" One of the commanders managed to regain his composure and ask the telegraph officer for more details.

The woman who had received the report snapped out of her own daze and looked back at her screen. "Unknown, but the message confirms a large number of missile launchers." she finished giving her report to her superiors. Once the report of the nuclear attack forces had been given to the captain of the gigantic super carrier, the captain opened communications to all ZAFT. "Attention all forces! Intercept enemy closing in from polar orbit; they're loaded with nuclear weapons. _We can't let them even fire one of them at the PLANTs._" the captain's voice echoed throughout the fleet and to all the pilots that were currently fighting on the battlefield, some being well known veterans of the previous war.

Far above the Aprilius PLANT group, the Windams armed with nuclear warheads closed in on their target, "Distance from firing range, ninety." the lead Windam at the front of the pack reported back to the flagship of the nuclear attack force, watching his scopes closely.

With the Earth Alliance's nuclear fleet, composed of Blue Cosmos members drawing closer towards the PLANT homeland, ZAFT had sent three Nazca-class destroyers to meet these "All systems status normal. Quantum fennel terminal one through five, multiple coordinates online. Operation time is seven seconds. Grid is tracking targets." Tactical Operations officer began going through the startup checklist for the special equipment attached to the lead Nazca-class vessel, equipment that had been specifically created for this kind of attack. "We've only got one shot, draw them in as close as possible." The captain of the Nazca said to his crew, as he watched the tactical readout above his head of the hostile fleet closing in on them. "Pre-charge online, activating Neutron Stampeder." The tactical operations officer announced, as energy began to eminate off of and cover the fins of the Neutron Stampeder.

Back aboard the nuclear attack fleet's flagship "Three Nazca-class vessels at red-twenty-two-beta sir!" The radar operator reported to the captain of the Blue Cosmos vessel. "That's strange, one of the seems to be carrying unknown equipment." the curly haired operator said, looking at the silhouette with a perplexed look and his captain was just as confused by the vague description he had been given.

"Okay boys for the preservation of our blue and pure world. This time for sure!" One of the crazed Blue Cosmos pilots said, almost in a trance like state and salivating at the mouth from how close he was from achieving their goal of finally destroying the coordinator's homeland and vapourising their hated enemy in a glorious display of nuclear fire.

The build of energy around the special equipment that had been attached to the Nazca-class, had reached it's peak and blanketed the length of the vessel in luminescent glow. Aboard the bridge, the captain of the vessel watched intently as the warheads entered the firing angle of the new weapon. "Fire Neutron Stampeder!" He shouted "Firing!" the tactical operations officer responded, confirming the captain's order. As the order was carried out, the modified Nazca-class destroyer released an energy wave of electric blue and silver, that engulfed the nuclear warheads and the mobile suits and each missile exploded in a brilliant flash of light, consuming the mobile suits that were closest to the explosions.

As each warhead exploded, the captain of the Nuclear Attack Fleet couldn't help but look on in confusion and awe "The first attack wave is gone sir!" The CIC operator said looking at his monitors, after each and every signal from the Windams had been lost all at once. "What?" The scruffy looking captain of the Blue Cosmos fleet, shouted in disbelief "The Nazca-class fired something sir!" The radar operator reported just as the wave passed through them, which excited runaway neutrons to cause nuclear fission reaction and detonated the nuclear warheads in the holds of the Earth Alliance fleets prematurely. These flashes of nuclear light were so bright, so spectacular that they could be seen from the Earth's surface.

**Luna; Copernicus lunar impact crater - Copernicus City.**

After the news had ended along with the battle, Meia had returned to the clothing boutique and rested against the brick wall, still waiting for Jura and their escort to finish their 'shopping' so they could leave "Meia there you are!" The blonde haired Mejeren placed a hand on her hip, while carrying four bags filled with clothes and was followed by their guide from the ex-Earth Alliance vessel.

The Dread team commander looked up and towards Jura, slightly annoyed by the blonde's laid back attitude towards the situation. "You're late." there was little patience left in the light blue haired woman's voice, however after seeing the footage of the battle and the declaration of war being made, she was now more concerned on how far they were going to be dragged into the affairs of a universe that was alien to them

"We can't be that...Oh-no! Ahhh! We're going to be late!" The CIC operator of the _JELLICOE_ cried out in panic after noticing the time and rushed towards the rented vehicle they were using, aftaid of not getting two women to the shuttle and of receiving a lecture from her captain. Meia however was the only one not visibly panicking and followed close behind, letting out an exhausted sigh at their behaviour the young Mejerean woman looked up at the artificial sky of the lunar city and wondered how Mejere was fairing and whether or not they'll be able to stop the harvest in time .

**Unknown Location; Lord Djibril's Mansion - Underground Compound**

The news of the destruction of the entire nuclear attack force had reached Lord Djibril in his underground compound. Being the mastermind who had orchestrated battle and the one who had pressed for another war, Djibril felt humiliated by this unsuspected blow which had annihilated an entire fleet in one shot. "Say that again!" he rose from his seat in anger.

The man on the other end of the video monitor visibly gulped _"Sir, I said they've all been eliminated. The entire nuclear attack force, every unit just blew up at the same time! The Earth Forces are falling back to their lunar base for now"_ Djibril's contact within the main branch of the Earth Alliance military repeated his last statement to the Blue Cosmos leader, still shocked himself by what had happened to the entire nuclear fleet.

"This...is...impossible." Lord Djibril whispered in disbelief, unable to comprehend how an entire fleet armed with nuclear weapons could be destroyed, how the attack could be stopped cold but what he couldn't believe was how dismally the plan had failed.

**Luna; Arzachel luna impact crater - Arzachel Moon Base**

Hidden away beneath the main ship construction facilities, out of view from prying eyes but close enough to not arouse suspicion from resources and personel suddenly disappearing. The mastermind behind the creation of Blue Cosmos and now rogue member of Logos floated down the hall to his private office. "They got what they deserved." the aged man said with a blank expression on his face after hearing the complete and utter failure of the nuclear attack on the governing body of the PLANTs. "Rushing out in such a predictable manner. If watching the fools allowing Azareal to dictate the actions at Logos has taught me, you've got to have plan for both victory and failure. That's why you've got to think on a much grandiose scale" George Valios Bucard, said confidently as he walked over to the observation window that overlooked the hidden drydock. "It's a shame we don't have the data from Epsilon, then we'd be able to ensure the quality of the second generation. Alpha, have Beta and Delta to pursuade him to come back." He said slyly, watching over the construction of the dreadnaught.

"And if he doesn't want to return?" The dark blue haired youth asked in a monotonous voice, devoid of any emotion and almost subserviant.

The captain and mastermind behind the creation of this Leviathan ship, which was being constructed out of sight from all major governments and organisations, turned his head slightly and looked at the human weapon with a sinister look in his eyes. "Kill him and everyone he's been in contact with." he said coldly, he had expected that the first generation Extended Combat-Coordinator and the eldest of the children that had been produced from the project to know how things were run in Librarian Works.

"Yes sir." The first batch and first created Extended Combat-Coordinator bowed to his master and left the hangar with a shadow covering his face as a grin krept upon his features, whether it was out of delight of being able to have a 'traitor' and 'deserter' taken care of or for another reason altogether, no body knew but what was known was that it wasn't a good sign.

**Ending - Hoshi No Tobira by Satori Negishi**


	7. Die is Cast

**Vandread is property of Gonzo and Media Factory animation studios**

**Gundam SEED is property of Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment.**

**Kazuki Uraki and all other OCs mentioned are owned by yours truly**.

**A/N: **In addition I've decided to Vandread SEED into a trilogy. The names of the upcoming titles will be Vandread SEED Reborn, Vandread SEED: Project Universe (aka. Vandread SEED Universe). Although I said I wasn't going to bring back the 105 Dagger, I have decided to bring it back with a few upgrades.

**Vandread SEED Destiny: Phase 07 - Die is Cast**

Even though the attack had taken place near the PLANT homeland, the detonations of the nuclear warheads could be seen even from he surface of the Earth itself and it went without saying that these explosions didn't go unnoticed by the crew of the _Nirvana_, a ship from another universe that is seeking a way to get back home. "Captain! I'm detecting a large increase in radiation at one of the lagrange points at this universe's Earth." Amarone eye's widened in alarm, after reading the sudden spike in radiation which had set off alarms throughout the entirety of the vessel.

The alarm in her subordinate's voice was enough to draw the captain's attention to the radar operator and to get her interested in what the situation was. "Put it on the screen! What is that?" The elderly captain of the _Nirvana_ said in astonishment, as flash of blinding light and explosions filled the screen before dissipating and leaving the crew of the alien vessel frozen in confusion.

"So they decided to use them...The Earth Alliance decided to use their nuclear weapons." The blonde haired woman from the _JELLICOE_ said, walking onto the bridge with a sorrowful look on her face.

"Nuclear?" The commander of the _Nirvana_ raised an eyebrow, wondering what kind of power these socalled 'nuclear weapons' had.

Hilde stopped next to Buzam and gave her a look of caution and then back at the screen as the explosions dissopated. "They're weapons of mass destruction. I can't believe they would decide to use them and so soon too. _Damn those Blue Cosmos bastards!_" she balled her fists and cursed under her breath

The captain of the _Nirvana_ stared at the screen and at the point where the blast of energy that had destroyed the missiles had come from and frowned "By the look of things it would appear that they were prepared for them." It just seemed that the deployment of a weapon to counter these weapons of mass destruction and even the timiing of its debut, was just too damned convenient for her tastes.

Hilde Ravensbruck looked at the screen intently, remembering the day that the extent of corruption and how far Blue Comos' influence extended within the Earth Alliance. "They used them twice in the last war and were prepared to use them twice more in the last battle, fortunately those missiles were destroyed by the Arch Angel and her allies." She said with some relief in her voice however still retained some bitterness, caused by the guilt of being was apart of the forces that had wanted to use the nuclear weapons.

The commander frowned at the detail on these so-called 'nuclear weapons' but what Buzam could tell from the size of the explosions, these missiles were far more powerful than Taraak's _Muramasa_ missile "I see." BC replied, wondering if the technology in this universe could be used to their own advantage.

"We're now approaching our destination." Amarone announced to the personell on the bridge.

The former Earth Alliance pilot walked over to Ezra's post and leaned over the control panel. "May I?" She asked

Magno Vivan nodded her head slightly and Buzam simply crossed her arms across her chest. "Go right ahead." The platinum blonder commander answered, it was about time that they made their intentions known to this 'DSSD' organization, spooking their source of information wouldn't help their situation and wouldn't go well with those who are going out of their way to help them.

Ezra opened a line of communication between the research station and the silver battleship. "This is Lieutenant Commander Hilde Ravensbruck from Liberator PMC, security code Alpha-Three-Two-Six-Zero reporting from a civillian ship called the _Nirvana_." the woman of German descent stepped forward with a serious look on her face while speaking. However after she mentioned that the _Nirvana_ was a civillian ship, the captain couldn't helped but be surprised and turned to her commander whom had just shrugged, although they were pirates using a stolen battleship, BC figured it wouldn't draw too much attention if they pretended the ship didn't have any weapons of its own and also that they probably wouldn't need to use them anytime soon.

A young security officer in dark blue jumpsuit appeared on the screen _"You've been cleared Lieutenant Commander, we are ready to receive you at any time. Troya Station out." _The screen then went dark as the security officer had cut the line of communication between the station and the glistening battleship.

The platinum blonde commander of the _Nirvana_.turned to the mercenary. "I'll accompany you over. If that is all right with you captain." the woman asked, turning back to her captain.

Magno Vivan nodded slightly to Buzam and had every intention of letting her go in the first place as a representative of the _Nirvana_, and to ensure that everything went smoothly. "That's fine with me, but take Barnette and Parfet with you as well." She added and even if they were there to help with the security, adding some extra services may help convince the sientists to work harder to solve the predicament that the crew of the _Nirvana_ was in.

"Yes captain." BC nodded in response to the captain's order.

**Opening - Ignited by T.M. Revolution**

The silver battleship drifted in space alongside the DSSD Troya Space Station. Like evey other hangar the odour of lubricant and oils hung low in the air as the team chosen to board the reasearch station finished preparing the shuttle to leave. "Are we all here?" Hilde asked looking at the people gathering around the enterance of the shuttle, however her attention was soon drawn to a red haired Mejeran girl and a dark spike-haired Taraak boy. "What are they doing?" The mercenary woman placed a hand on her hip and eyed the pair disdainfully.

Buzam walked up next to Hilde "It would be more troublesome if we left them here." the commander of the _Nirvana_ replied plainly.

The blonde commander from the _JELLICOE_ sighed dejectedly, she didn't really want to bring anyone exciteable along but this could help to give Hibiki a better perspective of life. "I suppose it'll be okay if they don't get in the way, while we're over there." the woman waved dismissively and boarded the shuttle, brushing past the Taraak youth.

"What was that?" The Hibiki glared at the woman accusingly, balling his hands into fists in a barely controlled rage and attempted to stare her down.

However she wasn't going to give him what he wanted and continued to her seat "Nothing. We can't keep them waiting any longer than we have." Ravensbruck pushed, trying to hurry the group into their seats and avoid a confrontation that would only sour business relations between Liberator PMC and the DSSD.

As the shuttle made its way over to the station, the harbour master began giving the Mejeran craft directions and guided it to the assigned dock. _"Nirvana shuttle-one. this is Troya station control we have you on screen and we are tracking you."_ The Mejeran shuttle drifted, lazily into Troya Station harbour "Axis alignment and entry vector is good. Disengage breaking jets, and transfer control over to the electro-magnetic bucket. Deceleration is at 2.51, commence docking." The ship jolted slightly as it came to a complete stop, causing passengers inside to lurch forward from the remaining momentum. There was a deafening thunk on the hull of the shuttle, as anchor arms latched onto the transport vessel and held it in place while an umbilical was attached between the "What is Troya Station like?" Parfet asked, anxious to see what secrets she may discover in the large space station that they had arrived at.

The blonde shook her head in response and walked down the only aisle of the shuttle, towards the access hatch. "Personally I've never been here, but what I know it's a research station that's used to help with the terraforming on Mars and research technologies for space exploration. It's perhaps the only organization that still has a genuine interest in space." The squadron commander from the _JELLICOE_ turned her head slightly towards the engineer. "Fortunately for us it is neutral and you'll be able to get some information without too much trouble." The door to the airlock slid open, giving access to the interior of the massive research station.

"Ah… Welcome aboard, we weren't expecting you to show up in such a flashy ship." They were greeted by one of the many scientists aboard Troya Station

The blonde commander nodded and could understand the old man's confusion. As a small organisation, it seemed hardly possible that Liberator PMC could afford a large and luxourious vessel such as the Nirvana. "Well...to be honest it really isn't ours however we'll have plenty of time to discuss it, after we've gone through the details of upgrading your security." she pressed, not wanting to go into too many details of how they came across the 'alien' vessel and reveal too much of its origins.

"Ah...yes, yes, we don't want to forget why you are here. If you'll follow me, please." The elderly man turned his back to the group and began his march towards the security center, all the while his cane clacking against the deck plating.

As they entered the promande aboard the massive station, Dita ran up to the large reinforced windows of that loked over towards the testing area in absolute awe, as she was able to get a better perspective of how extensive the framework of Troya was upclose. "Oh! Wow! I can't believe that this is a space station! It's so big!" she gaped, pressing her face against the glass and craned her neck upward before taking out her camera to take pictures.

"Cut it out will you!" The young Taraak male said slightly embarrassed by Dita's insistance onf acting like some tourist.

The red haired, UFO fanatic turned to Hibiki with confusion "Why what's wrong?" she asked.

The leading scientists and administrator of the DSSD station watched the small squable and hobbled walked up to the two. "Nothing's wrong, look as much as you want to my dear. It's not often that we get people as young as you interested in what we're trying to do here, let alone science. How about I give you two tour of the station after I show your friends to the security station?" He offered to the both of them.

Dita's eyes widened in excitement, wondering what she'd find in this huge 'alien' space station. "Really? Do you mean it? WOW! C'mon Mister Alien let's go!" she shouted, grabbing Hibiki by the arm and running in front of the group from the Nirvana, expecting things to be hurried along.

"Hey! Watch it! Stop pulling will you!" The Tarak male cried, however the Mejeren girl was already thinking of 'alien' autopsies and UFOs.

**Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty; Carpentaria Base**

As the harsh Australian sun, beat down on the ZAFT base and baked the Mobile Suits that were waiting for the signal to engage the Earth Alliance forces that haunted the shores off of the Southern Continent, waiting for their own orders to invade the ZAFT stronghold. Inside of the main building of Carpentaria Base, behind a closed door, the conduct of one of Liberator PMC's pilots was being put into question. "You do understand the implications of the charges you are facing, do you not?" The captain and the leader of the organisation stared down his subordinate, who stood before the main monitor.

Standing in the middle of the room, Kazuki remained calm and had been ready for his punishment since he had chosen to abandon his station. "I do." Ordinarilly a soldier would recieve harsh punishment for deriliction of duty, sometimes going as far as execution. However being apart of a mercenary unit, such extreme measures isn't particularly good for business and it wouldn't be too good for morale .

The XO of Liberator PMC's mothership leaned forward, with a stern look across his features and placed his hands together over a folder that held the after action report. "For insubordination and for infringing upon the terms of our contract with ZAFT, I hereby strip you of your current rank and all of it's priviledges." He signed a piece of paper of to his left, making the declaration official. "I'd like to ground you until further notice, however we have another contract we'd like you, Lieutenant Jameson and two recent additions to participate in, groundside. For this portion the Supreme Chairman Durandal would like to personally brief you on your next mission." The commander differed to the dark haired man from the PLANT.

On the left side of the same monitor, Durandal bowed his head politely before speaking. "Thank you Commander. However you do not need to discipline him for his actions," Kazuki had a feeling that the Chairman was up to something and unlike most of those that have met Gilbert Durandal, didn't trust him and saw this fork-tongued man as a snake. "I believe that he was acting with the best of intentions and in fact I would like to off my gratitude him for aiding our forces by delaying the advance of those terrorists." The chairman tried to offer his gratitude, while trying to defuse the situation and let the commander know that there was no harm done. Although he could have sent the mission report and have the XO of the _JELLICOE_ deliver the briefing, in truth Durandal wanted to check on the person who had aided in the mop-up operation and he wasn't in the least bit surprised that it was Kazuki who had engaged the enemy forces.

"With all due respect sir-" Giovanni Castelloni, the XO of the _JELLICOE_ made an attempt to interrupt the Chairman and stop the man from the PLANT from dictating how Liberator PMC operated.

Durandal however decided to ignore the protests of the commander and continued. "I would also like to say that after hearing the condition you were found in, that as geneticist in the of field of medical science, I was concerned for his health but I am relieved to see that he has recovered from his ordeal." He sounded sincere about his concern for Kazuki; which seemed to placate the Giovanni Castelloni, Kazuki on the other hand didn't trust those empty words. "However discussing Lieutenant's condition isn't why I am here now is it? So let's get to the matter at hand, which is that Western Eurasia is currently rebelling against the Earth Alliance and we would like to support them in their effort against those whom seek to oppress them however ZAFT has no intention of getting directly involved in their conflict." he summed up the mission they were to undertake in as few of words as possible and got to the heart of the matter.

The Lieutenant looked up and considered the request, deciding to make a request of his own. "We'll need our mobile suits, I take it? If so I'd like to have modifications made to my machine." The request became more of a demand, however he wasn't one to miss the opportunity to use his connection with Chairman to upgrade his machine.

Castelloni frowned at his subbordinate's attitude."Lieutenant..." The slender Italian born man growled at the both the familiarity and the callous words used by Kazuki.

The Supreme Chairman didn't mind Kazuki's personality at all and found it to be quite shrewd of him, to use the current situation to use ZAFT's resources to his advantage. "We'll see what we can do Kazuki. I wish you luck" Durandal closed the communication's link to ZAFT's Carpentaria base.

After the link had been severed between the base and the PLANT homeland, the image of the commanding officerthe _JELLICOE_ had widened and took over the main monitor at the front of the briefing room."First Lieutenant Kazuki Uraki! You have acted out of line again, do not make me warn you a second time! I'm disappointed in your recent actions, you're usually more disciplined than this and I had hoped that you of all people would not have acted so rashly." He began to reprimand the young coordinator.

"..." Kazuki stood still and silent, he understood his behaviour was unbecoming an officer of his rank however he wasn't about to be used by the Chairman without using him in return.

Feeling that chewing out the Lieutenant wasn't necessary any longer, Giovanni Castelloni decided to finallise the matters of the upcoming mission. "We'll be sending down some Dagger Ls and the Buster Dagger as soon as we can, be sure to brief the others on the mission. By the way where is Lieutenant Jameson now?" The commander wondered where the dark haired male had wandered off too and why he hadn't been present for the proceedings and the briefing.

The womanising soldier then enterred the room, right on cue. "Right here boss. I was just greeting these fine looking ladies." He motioned to the Mejeren women whom were following right behind him.

Giovanni chewed his bottom lip, he hated how insolent James acted towards him and the Captain. "How many times must I remind you to address your superiors in the proper manner?" Although they were ex-military, it didn't mean that they had to throw away their chain of command or discipline.

"Oh c'mon relax, sir." He tried to lighten the mood.

The XO however didn't have time to properly correct Jameson and decided to end session between the _JELLICOE_ and Carpentaria Base. "Lieutenant Kazuki Uraki, don't forget to inform the rest about the mission details we went over. I'll allow the new members to introduce themselves. The captain and I look forward to reading your after mission report." The monitor went dark and left the introductions to the Mejeren women themselves.

Matthew chortled at the small tiff he had with the commander, as if he had enjoyed annoying Giovanni and stood next to Kazuki. "That was entertaining. Anyway, allow me to introduce..." The dark haired man began.

The blue haired young woman interrupted the Lieutenant and began making the introductions herself. "I'm Meia Gisborn and this is Jura Elden, I suppose it was you who helped..."

Meia was interrupted by the click, followed by a creak of metal as the door opened from the outside. "Pardon for the intrusion but we've detected an Earth Alliance fleet amassing outside of this base and unfortunately you won't be able to meet your ship on time, we've got a transport plane on standby until the airspace has been cleared." A ZAFT green coat entered the room and saluted the mercenary group, delivering the latest news. "Due to the present situation you will have to make a high altitude jump into Eastern Europe over the rebel faction's base, there you will board your machines and provide anti-mobile suit support." The ZAFT grunt gestured for the group to head towards the waiting transport and prepare for the insertion into enemy territory.

"Excuse me, what exactly do you mean by a high altitude jump?" Jura, the blonde haired Mejeren who had been silent up until now asked with concern evident in her voice.

**Deep Space Survey and Development Organisation; Toya Station**

Between the Earth and the PLANT, located in an area of space that is relatively unimportant the silver, dagger shaped vessel the _Nirvana_ hung outside the large research station. "If I am to interpret what you're saying correctly, what you want me to find is a wormhole of sorts or a disturbance that could be used to create one." The director in charge of Troya Station's astronomical science department surmised the request that the crew of the alien ship was making. Unfortunately they were delving into the realm of theory and science fiction, so their request seemed basically impossible to fullfill however the research station is filled with scientists that were in the business of making the impossible, possible.

The platinum blonde commander of the _Nirvana_, Buzam nodded "Yes that is correct. At the moment we lack the facilities and the information necessary to do so. We would be grateful if you were to help us." she asked rather graciously of their host. Unlike the last Mission Colony they were at, where it was filled with ruffians that were ready to mug them, this time a little diplomacy and tact was need in their negotiations.

An astronomer who had been running the observatory, turned from the instumentation and looked at the B.C. "The problem is that a wormhole would create a significant disturbance and the gravity generated by such a phenomena would have serious adverse effects on nearby objects." he stated plainly. If a wormhole of somekind were to appear and it had a fixed position near the Earth, then the gravity from the object would effect tidal conditions, weather and anything surrounding the blue planet. "That is if it has a fixed point in space, but all we have is theory to fall back on and it is because that it is theory we do not know what the right conditions are to artificially create one." he pointed out, although the thought of creating such a phenomena had its appeal, he didn't want to risk.

"So you're saying you can't help us?" Parfet chimed in looking up from the same screen that the astronomer had been looking at, intrigued by how much data that the lone station had been able to gather.

The elderly man let out a breath and nodded solemly. "Unfortunately, yes. I do apologise we can't be of any help to you, however we'll be more than happy to provide you with any other data that you may need.." he offered to the group, in attempt to to make up for not being able to help them with their request.

B.C shook her head, not wanting to seem over eager by taking the offer and retain some dignity by not appearing to be a charity case. "Thank you for the sentiments but..." She began to decline the offer however would be interrupted by Parfet.

"Commander would it be alright if we got a list of available technologies?" The red haired bespectacled girl then brought out a data transfer device of her own design.

The platinum blonde let out a defeated sigh, her attempt had now just become a vain one and relented to the engineer's request "I don't see why not."

Nodding in affirmation the elderly man swivelled the chair around and began typing away on his keyboard. "It's not an impossible task however it will take some time to compile and there will be some technologies that we don't have access too." he warned, tilting his head to look at the commander whom stood behind him and then to Parfet on his right.

"That's fine by us." Buzam responded non-chalantly

The director raised an eyebrow at the red haired engineer out of curiousity. "Might I ask what it is for?" Caution was evident in his voice, he wasn't one to doubt but they had to be certain that the information wasn't for destructive purposes, especially with war

Parfet, didn't like being put on the spot and had to think of an excuse that would satisfy their hosts. "Ah...well...we've come a long way and we don't know if the technology here is compatible witth ours." She tried to keep her reason as simple as possible, without giving too much away.

"The technology on Mars must be truly advanced then." One of the astronomers had said in wonderment. Although the commander had the urge to correct the elderly man, however mentioning where they were actually from would, as Captain Theodore Dupont stated, cause more trouble than needed. Parfet however was about to correct the mistake that the scientist had made but the commander stopped her in her tracks by silently shaking her head from side-to-side.

That's when Hilde entered the room with the newly appointed security chief, still discussing the defensive measures that were in place and how to deploy their forces.. "...and lastly don't have the pilots bunch up when they're engaging the enemy. Otherwise if they're hit by something like a positron cannon, your defensive line will be weakened and it'll allow enemy forces to move in." she finished

The security chief nodded in affirmation "Of course ma'am."

"How is everything here?" The blonde haired woman looked at the guests to their universe from Mejere, curious to see if there was any progress with the data that they came to obtain.

"We're just finishing up here Lieutenant Commander." B.C. reframed from mentioning that they didn't manage to get anything useful yet and that the Parfet had something planned, however she was sure what the engineer had planned exactly.

The _JELLICOE_'s squadron leader focused on the platinum blonde and then to the red head. "Good, seeing as your engineer has finished with the system upgrades to the security around here and that Barnette has finished helping with coordinating the drills, they're following up on the agreement and we're getting new supplies for both your ship and the _JELLICOE_." she informed the pair on how they were doing for time and in progress of their 'mission'.

Buzam tilted her head slightly then turned her back to the Lieutenant Commander to focus on the data collection, to see what exactly they were getting. "Thank you and I'm glad they were able to help, we'll collect the data and find Dita and Hibiki before heading back to the _Nirvana_." she finished.

"Right, I'll go look for them." Hilde Ravensbruck said and headed back out of the room to begin her search for the two wayward teenagers, with all of her duties done, it was better than sitting around and doing nothing.

After having giving the two teenagers a tour of most of Troya Station the administrator of the research facility had decided to end the sight-seeing, by showing them the best spot to get an idea of how large the facility is and just how fragile the world was. "From here you can see much of the station." He guided the pair of teenagers to a large window on the main promenade.

"Oh wow! It's so big!" The red haired girl from Mejere gaped in awe, what she was massive in length compared to the Mission colonies that they had been on.

Hibiki however wasn't at all impresed, not by what they were doing but by how unconcerned they were with everything that was happening around them "Tch!" the youth spat cocking his head away from Dita and the old man.

"Hmm?" The administrator of the giant research facility in space turned to look at the young Tarak male.

Dita looked over her shoulder with concern then turned to face the youth fully "What is it Mister Alien?" She said with worry clearly etched on her face.

He tried to suppress the rage he was feeling however it wasn't in his nature to remain calm and stay quiet while every fiber in his being, told him that just ignoring what was happening on this Earth was wrong. "I can't believe you're acting like you don't have a care in the world, when people are fighting out there! Here you've got all this great stuff, but you're doing nothing to help them!" he almost shouted, earning the attention of everyone in nearby.

The elderly man, casually walked passed the boy and sat on the edge of one of the gardens on the promenade before placing his hands on top of his cane. "If we help one side, the world will once again slip into two camps and the goals, the ideals of everyone here will be squashed by those who seek something beyond fighting." he said in a calm tone, although they wanted to help it would also mean there'd be sacrifices on their end.

"Beyond fighting?" Hibiki blinked, trying to understand what he the old man had said.

The administrator's eyes then seemed to focus on something that was beyond their view. "Everyone here wants to understand the universe, to unravel the secrets, as well as expand their horizons and it is those beliefs that binds us together and helps us transcend our differences. We all believe that knowledge should be free to everyone and not come at a price, especially if that price is at the cost of taking another's life."

"You don't even know if they'll..." Hibiki argued, trying to find the right words that'll get the sientists at Troya Station to do something.

The elderly man raised his hand to silence the youth. "If they'll use that knowledge to make weapons of war? Throughout history, inventions that were created by scientists for the benefit of mankind have almost always been perverted and turned into weapons of war." He stated matter-of-factly, his voice sounded stern and was unwavering.

This left Hibiki unnerved and gave him pause, was this truly the nature of humans and how they conduct war? Or was this just some excuse to not get involved in the war? "Hey! Brat and Liebely-" Hibiki was about to protest even further, however he was interrupted by Hilde before he could even utter a word.

"What did you call me?" The youth snapped back at the obvious jab at him.

The woman walked up to him and leaned forward and stared directly into his eyes. "Didn't you hear me? I called you brat, or would you prefer that I called you loudmouth midget instead?" she continued to press his buttons, just to see his reaction. .

The dark haired spiked youth gritted his teeth and glenched his hand to make a fist that shook by his side. "Why you..." he growled.

Hilde then stood up right with a satisfied grin on her face and turned away from the Tarak Male and the Mejeran. "Anyway we'll be going shortly, so get prepared to leave as soon as possible." She waved back to them and headed back to the observatory to inform the others from the _Nirvana _that she has informed both Dita and Hibiki that they were about to leave.

"Whatever...I'll be on the shuttle." He grumbled, today just wasn't his day. Ever since they had appeared in the strange universe, the woman that instructed them on how to use the things called Mobile Suits had been riding his case and it really got on his nerves

In somewhat of daze herself, she watched Hibiki for awhile with a little concern and hoped that his mood would improve. "Hey wait up Mister Alien." She called out hurrying up to the spiked haired boy and followed him back to their shuttle that waited for them at the dock.

**Earth Alliance; Lunar Base - Arzachel**

Within the hidden section of Earth Alliance controlled Lunar base, the first generation of the Extended Combat Coordinators had gathered in the rec-room located near the dry dock for the behemoth dreadnaught the Jormungadr. Inside the lunch room used by the workers at the hidden shipyard, they were discussing "So what does our Master want us to do now?" One of the four remaining Extended Combat Coordinators said in a sarcastic tone, knowing full well that they all wouldn't gather unless it was either to do with something of considerable importance..

The leader of the group and first Extended Combat Coordinator closed the door and stood in the center of the poorly lit room, eying his comrades carefully "He wants us to reel in our wayward companion." He watched the reaction of his subordinates.

"You mean he wants us to kill him?" Gamma replied almost alittle too eagerly. Ever since their time at the 'processing centre' that ran discreetly through the Extended program at Lodonia, Gamma had never liked Epsilon and would only cooperate with the other Extended Combat Coordinator if ordered to, however it would only be done so begrudgingly.

Alpha eyed Gamma wryly. As the group leader and senior, he knew that Gamma had a problem functioning with their former comrade however being trained to be weapons first, the reason why eluded him but he had his guesses. "That's if he doesn't come back to the program. However I want to test his resolve and if he proves to be strong, he'll make a perfect ally." He didn't want to destroy a potential asset and the very individual whom had helped create a spark of inidividual thought amongst the other Extended Combat Coordinators.

Delta the Close Comat type, Extended Combat Coordinator raised his head slightly and glanced at their group's leader. "What if he doesn't agree to our views?" He spoke from the farthest corner in the room, even though having him on their side would help increase their chances, Epsilon wasn't really that necessary for them to carry out their plans.

"Then we'll kill him." Seth, Alpha's original name, said with finallity.

Sitting at the table inside the lunch room the Assassin type Extend Combat Coordinator was busy painting her nails as she listened to the conversation that was taking. "As long as I get to see my prince, I don't care. He's such a rebel and I loved it when he went on that rampage, to think those mercenaries would try and tame him." she extended her hand and blew on the wet nailpolish, ever since they had been assigned to the same group and watched Epsilon carry out his orders without fail, she had slowly developed a crush that boreded obsessive side.

The red haired leader of the group looked from the Assassin to the Close Combat specialists before clearing his throat to give out their orders. "Beta and Delta, I want you to go and persuade him to come back to us. Gamma you'll remain on standby." Each of them nodded in affirmation upon recieving their orders..

For Delta though it wasn't enough, while they were doing all the field work he wanted to know what their glorious leader was going to do about the situation. "Sir! What about you?" He asked trying to hide some of the indignation in his voice.

"I'll keep playing my part until the pieces are in place." He pressed a button on the side of the door and dull-grey piece of metal slid open with a hiss

The raven haired girl eyed the Command Type, Extended Combat Coordinator with caution. "You know he'll eventually catch on." She said knowingly. Eventually their 'master' would take notice of these private meetings and may discover their true intentions, with which Bucard would terminate them.

"By then it'll be too late." Alpha said with a gleam in his eye, a sinister tone in his voice and headed out onto the main floor of the hidden drydock.

**Ending - Hoshi No Tobira by Satori Negish**

With people working in shadows during the confusion of war, it is often hard to tell who is friend and who is foe. Can Meia and Jura trust their new comrades or will they be left to fend for themselves as Europe burns? Next time Vandread SEED Destiny:_ Trial By Fire_. Gouf Take flight into the endless sky.


	8. Trial By Fire

**Vandread is property of Gonzo and Media Factory animation studios**

**Gundam SEED is property of Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment.**

**Kazuki Uraki and all other OCs mentioned are owned by yours truly**.

**A/N: **Here's Trial By Fire, please read and review.

**Vandread SEED Destiny: Phase 08 – Trial By Fire.**

After permission to begin operations on the Earth had been given to the Defence Committee, areas above the Earth's atmosphere had become hives of activity as ZAFT vessels and Mobile Suits massed in preparation for the upcoming operation to reinforce the terrestrial bases of Carpentaria and Gibraltr. _"Operation: Spear of Twilight will commence in T minus 60 seconds. Adjusting launch angle by point three."_ The operations officer's voice echoed throughout the ZAFT fleet that had been amassed in lunar orbit _"Orser, Dmanisi and Kantanda Teams, prepare for launch. No enemies detected within a 600 radius. Continue countdown." _Another had taken over for guiding and allocating troops to their assigned positions._"T minus 5, 4, 3, 2 commence descent." _Once the countdown had been completed, the descent pods filled with fresh Mobile Suits, troops and supplies detached from the dropships and Lurasia-class vessels and burned through the atmosphere of the planet to their intended targets, ZAFT's Terrestrial Bases.

The pods that were taking part in Operation: Spear of Twilight left trails of fire behind them as the fell from the heavens and began deploying their mobile suits. Detecting the drop, alarms blared aboard all of the Earth Alliance fleets that had been stationed outside of Carpentaria which had been waiting for their orders since the failed attack on the PLANT homeland. _"Descent alarm from the Garfield Antenna! Scramble! All hands to level one battle stations! I repeat, all hands to level one battle stations!" _A voice echoed throughout the fleet before the Atlantic Federation's Windam Mobile Suits scrambled from their ships, this reaction to the descent operation gave the forces stationed Carpentaria Base an excuse to launch and meet up with ZAKU units that were still in free-fall, this battle off the coast of Australia would mark the official start to open hostilities between the Earth Alliance and the ZAFT organisation.

**Opening – Ignited by T.M. Revolution**

With the battle taking place off the coast of Australia and the current policy of not to recklessly escalate the conflict like in the previous war, meant that the traversing through Africa and the Middle East was impossible and also meant that the transport ferrying Meia, Jura and the two pilots from the _JELLICOE_ had to take the long way around to their destination. "I see, I'll make sure that they're given the news" Kazuki replied to the commander from the _JELLICOE _after receiving anupdate on the current situation.

As the brunette made his way to the back of the plane Meia met up with him with the intention of properly introducing herself and her comrade, however she had to know how he was able to react so quickly with an outdated mobile suit.. "Excuse me, we were interrupted earlier and I wasn't able to properly introduce ourselves." She began.

The Extended Combat Coordinator raised his hand to stop her. "Your Meia Gisborn and your companion is Jura Elden. I received a message from my ship to inform you that your new machines are ready for action." He continued walking as he spoke and passed the blue haired girl without looking at her.

She eyed him carefully while watching his back as he opened the hatch and entered the passenger's section of the transport. "Then at least tell me, how were you able to beat that high performance enemy machine?" She asked bluntly, folding her arms.

He gazed back over his shoulder at her with a cold and uncaring eyes. "They were weak." he stated and stepped through the portal to give the rest of the group the update.

Meia however felt a chill run down her spine. The cold and emotionless look she had just received seemed all too familiar to her, yes they reminded her of how she looked during that time in the past where she trusted no one but herself and just wanted to fade into oblivion and die. Snapping out of her semi-daze, she soon followed Kazuki into the passenger's cabin and took her seat next to Jura "So what do you think, huh?" the blonde woman said in a low, mischievous voice as she eyed up the coordinator, although at first she considered the other male in their group however the fact he was coming on too strongly had ruined Jameson's chances. "Think I can ask him to give me his seed, so I can make a baby with him?" she asked.

The blue haired adolescent woman just sighed, even if she tried to stop her comrade from trying or said no, Jura would still try anyway. "Jura...you're still going on about that?" she complained half-heartedly. Ever since they transferred from the ship and made their way to the Earth's surface, Jura had treated it like some pleasure cruise but even though Meia did find her comrade's relaxed attitude to the situation frustrating, it probably just how she was coping with the transference from one universe to another more alien universe.

Jura slipped by the blue haired leader of the _Nirvana's_ Dread squadron and made her way towards her target who was sitting furthest to the back with his eyes closed, as she took the seat next to him, "Hey I want a baby, can you give me what I need?" she asked, speaking into his ear in a seductive tone.

Kazuki opened an eyelid and looked at her incredulously "No." he replied flat out in his usual calm demeanour.

The blonde sat right up with a loo of shock in her eyes, she had been rejected just like that and he didn't even stop to think about it. "Why not?" She complained bitterly.

"Seeing as he's not willing, I more than happy to take his place" he winked playfully, leaning in and cupping her chin, trying his luck to seduce her again.

Jura swatted the man's hand away "No thank you, creep." She strode back over to her seat next to Meia.

"Creep?" He s cringed at being called a creep by a woman, was he really that undesirable? "Hey uh..." This time it was the blue haired young woman who was the focus of his attention.

However she raised a hand to stop the man before he could speak. "Sorry, I'm not interested" Matthew Jameson went pale and fell into the seat adjacent to where the women from the _Nirvana_ were seated. Kazuki however didn't seemed to care what was going on and had his eyes closed during the whole spat, choosing to rest for the upcoming mission.

"I can't believe it, I've been rejected by two beauties and here my wingman is doing nothing but snoring his head off." He teased his serious comrade, hoping to get a response however was a little disappointed when he got nothing from him. "Sheesh, you're no fun." He muttered and took a seat next to the window in row he was sitting in.

Meia could see Kazuki as a soldier but had a hard time believing that Matthew Jameson was a part of the mercenary outfit, but then again the _Nirvana_ had a few colourful characters that didn't quite resemble pirates too. With nothing else to do she to began to mentally prepare herself for the operation they were about to do, reason for this was because it was going to be a lot different than past battles due to the fact they weren't using Dreads or facing off against automated fleets sent by their version of Earth. However as she was psyching herself up, the look she had gotten from Kazuki haunted her and as she focused more on his eyes she could see herself in there, at first it frightened her but at the same time she seemed strangely drawn to him. She shook her head when she realised that she was thinking too much about the pilot, she was a Mejeran and the thoughts she was having felt unusual.

"_We'll be arriving over the drop zone in approximately 10 minutes."_ The pilot's voice came over the speakers, warning the passengers of how much time they had to suit up and prepare to drop onto their target.

At that point both of the two men in the group headed towards the exit at the rear to the cargo section to put on their safety harnesses and parachutes. As Jura and Meia watched how the men equipped themselves, the women soon followed their example however with one slight difference "These are so uncomfortable, don't you have something better?" Jura complained bitterly about the restrictive nature of the harness.

Meia eyed the males and the empty hooks that had held the equipment "Where are our packs?" she asked

Kazuki walked up behind her and grabbed a hold of the loops on her harness and a click series of clicks and felt her movements even more restricted. "You haven't been trained in their use and we can't afford to be split up, especially seeing as neither of you don't look like you've experienced ground combat before." he said calmly as Meia looked back at the male over her shoulder.

The blonde Mejeren however was struggling in her harness trying to get away from James. "We can handle ourselves you know." the Dread leader from the _Nirvana_ stated looking away.

"Both the Lieutenant and I saw the data, however this isn't a simulation and this isn't space. We're in gravity and this is war." Kazuki replied bluntly, there was clunk and a whir as the loading bay doors unlocked and lowered, exposing the four person team to a dark sky and the rushing night air.

The women tried to hold their hair back as the heavy wind filled the compartment. "A-are you sure this is safe?" Jura panicked a little, realising how high they were from the ground."Be-because I'm starting to have second thoughts about this." To be honest neither of the Mejeren women were sure about the whole idea of jumping out of the aircraft. Before the blonde haired woman could make any more protests a light near the cargo compartments hatch lit up green and the two men launched themselves from the cargo transport plane and found herself free falling alongside her blue haired comrade.

Breaking through the clouds the women could begin to see the main streets of Berlin and small lights that burned brightly in the darkness of the night however it soon became clear that those lights were flickering flames that billowed black smoke into the sky and the main streets that seemed to stretch through the centre of the city looked like a broken mess of rubble and debris, with the shadows of towering figures moving amongst ruined buildings. Even through the rushing air from the fall, faint sounds of gun and mortar fire could be heard. Meia didn't know what was going through Jura's mind, but her confidence had begun to waver. Whenever they had boarded a ship in their universe they had sought to stun both men and women, they had never actually killed and the battles they've had thus far were against automated machines and not other humans.

**Lunar; Copernicus Impact Crater – Copernicus City**

Still docked in the harbour of the lunar city of Copernicus, the _JELLICOE_ sat silently in its berth and waited for the return of the _Nirvana_ and her crew, aboard the black ex-Earth Alliance battleship, the captain of the vessel watched one of the many broadcasts on the war and like most commanding officers, he couldn't help but be concerned for the welfare of his subordinates that were fighting on the ground. "I hope that they are doing alright down there." He mumbled to himself as he slipped out his stainless steel hip flask from the inside of his uniform and took a sip of the reddish liquid inside the small container.

"CAPTAIN!" Giovanni shouted as he entered the bridge after receiving an update from ZAFT's Carpentaria base that the group that had been sent to Earth had let safely for their next deployment.

The captain coughed and spluttered, choking on his whiskey after being startled so suddenly by his XO "DAMN IT! Don't sneak up on me like that!" the elderly man, manged to choke out between coughs.

The Italian walked up to the captain with a thin manilla folder under his arm."Sir, you know that you're not supposed to drink on duty and while on the bridge." He let out an exhausted sigh.

Theodore Dupont tightened the lid on his stainless steel hip flask and pocketed it inside his coat. "How many times must I remind you that we're not with the Earth Alliance anymore? You could loosen up a bit." Ever since they had left the Earth Forces, he had tried to get his commander to ease up on regulations and enjoy the freedom they now had. However his attempts so far, have been less than successful.

Giovanni shook his head and handed the captain the manilla folder with an update on the progress of the mission for the ground team. "It is exactly for that reason why there must be someone to maintain discipline aboard the ship. We don't have the same access to resources as we did while we were apart of the Earth Forces." He stated as the elderly man had started going through the report with a discerning look. "That's why we need to behave like professionals and not allow our colleagues to go off and do their own thing. If we don't develop a good reputation, we won't get work and we won't get paid. If we don't get paid, we can't afford to buy much needed supplies." He stated matter-of-factually.

The captain however only half listened and handed the folder back to his XO, satisfied with what had seen in the report. "I know all this commander but you don't need to always act like a stick in the mud. You need to relax a little or you'll drive yourself crazy, that's an order." He tried to offer advice to the Italian to at least give those fighting some breathing room.

"I'll try sir." The XO responded unenthusiastically.

**Eurasian Federation; Eastern Europe; Germany – Berlin**

Landing within the snow covered streets of Berlin, the insertion team from the _JELLICOE _had already disposed of their parachuting equipment by hiding them under one of the many piles of debris that littered almost every corner of the city."I am never doing that again. Especially with this pervert." Jura huffed indignantly, throughout the descent she had found the harness to be entirely uncomfortable and the fact she had to 'buddy up' with the playboy even added to her discomfort.

The male whom had accompanied the woman from Mejere looked at him with a shock. "What? I didn't do anything." He raised his voice in an attempt to defend himself..

"Then how come I felt your breath against my neck?" She complained bitterly at how his breathing had increased because they were so close together and that he was basically panting against her skin.

Kazuki however had little time to deal with their pointless banter, he knew that if they didn't move and quietly, that they would be discovered by the enemy. "We need to move." He said abruptly, interfering with their argument.

Meia looked around, surveying the area for any signs of movement. "Do you think that they saw us?" she wondered, like Kazuki she was a little cautious. The sound of gun fire and the ruined buildings were contributing factors to her unease.

The young coordinator turned to the group with a thoughtful look in his eyes. "I don't know and considering that I don't know, let us assume they have seen us." He replied in a calm tone.

Matthew Jameson shook his head and stood as he placed the last block on the debris pile. "There you go again, taking charge. Weren't you just demoted? By all means I should be leading this little excursion." He emphasized the fact that Kazuki had been demoted and that he should be in charge of things now.

The brunette looked away, he had acted out of line again and had forgotten his status had been demoted due to his impulsive actions in the Australian outback. However he had managed to regain his focus and shot a glance to the man whom claimed to be worthy of leading the group while in enemy territory "Then what will you have us do?" He asked, wondering if his comrade's plan was any different from his..

"...er...that is to say, we should move, they may have noticed the 'chutes." The dark haired man struggled to come up with something of his own, however he knew that Kazuki had the right idea. "I know, I know." He groaned after receiving a smug look from Jura.

Making their way past the Earth Alliance patrols in the city, the group did their best to remain silent and managed to avoid capture however their luck didn't hold up when James Matthews 'accidentally' stood and broke a shard of glass under his boot. "Hey did you hear that?" A soldier in the bombed out building they were stacked up against, searched for the source of the sound.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"Another shouted and they began searching high and low for the source of the sound and their footsteps were gradually getting closer to their position.

The dark haired man shrugged and looked at the rest with a sheepish grin etched on his features. "Sorry." he replied simply in a quiet whisper.

"We'll be spotted for sure." The light blue haired girl became aware that their safety was now in jeopardy .

Kazuki's expression turned grim "And probably shot or worse." he added. He knew fully well of the barbaric and cruel nature of most of the Earth Alliance soldiers .

The blonde woman's eyes shot open. "Shot or worse? You've got to be kidding me!" she could only guess what he had meant by worse and with Kazuki's almost emotionless tone, it didn't make her feel the least bit comfortable

Matthew turned to the coordinator in their group, knowing full well that he was holding himself back from taking action against the approaching soldiers. "Listen Kazuki, I want you to deal with this. Just remember that we can't afford to have them report back to their headquarters, otherwise we'll lose the element of surprise when we make the counterattack against their mobile suit forces." He warned his 'subordinate' not to go easy on the patrol and dispose of any evidence of them being in the area. "In the meantime we'll get out of your hair and head to the rebel's base camp."

Kazuki stood almost immediately after receiving the orders and turned his back to the group, he knew what Matthew Jameson wanted however he wasn't about to needlessly sacrifice the lives of the misguided "Understood." he said coldly and basically marched towards the source of the voices.

As the brunette male walked away from the group, Jura looked at the dark haired Natural with slight concern "Hey, uh...shouldn't we be helping him?" She asked as Jameson led them away from the area, wondering why they were leaving Kazuki behind with the Earth Alliance soldiers.

"No, this is what he was made for." He said with veiled malice disguised as confidence in his comrade's abilities. Jura and Meia looked at each with concern, it wasn't the emotion in his voice that made them nervous, it was Jameson's choice of words. Although they had been told by the captain of the _JELLICOE_ that the coordinator's were born artificially, much like the men on Taraak

As the bulk of the group made their escape to he rebel faction's base to meet up with their machines, Kazuki slowly entered the house that the Earth Alliance soldiers were searching and had his hands slightly raised. "FREEZE! PUT YOUR HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!" One of the grunts yelled, waving his gun at the ex-combat coordinator, demanding that he show that he was unarmed.

The other soldier walked up with his weapon drawn and ready to fire. "What do you think? Is he a civilian?" He asked, uncertain of the youth in front of him.

The one who had yelled at him earlier shook his head. "Nope, he's definitely a rebel. Just look at his eyes." "Now all we have to do is decide whether to kill him here or take him back to command."

"Let's kill him now, it'll save us from doing it later and we won't have to fill in any paperwork." The second Earth Alliance soldier suggested.

His comrade smiled, he liked the idea a little too much and had wanted to some fun while he was on duty. "That's true. We can label it as stray fire."

Kazuki scowled at the men with disgust, as usual the Earth Forces showed how cruel and lazy their recruits were. "You bastards haven't changed." The brunette youth muttered under his breath. The Earth Alliance had always been filled with corruption and their behaviour were that of brutish thugs.

"Huh? What was that you? Do have something to say?" The second soldier raised his voice and gripped his rifle tightly, turning his knuckles white. The soldier drew closer to Kazuki and placed the muzzle of the assault rifle against his cheek bone and began grinding it against the jaw, however the soldier hadn't anticipated that his prisoner would yank the weapon out of his hands and to fall to the ground to sweep the soldier's legs out from underneath him. "Damn it! You god-damned shit!" The Earth Alliance grunt spat and drew his sidearm.

It took only a second for them to realize that what they were facing wasn't a Natural. "He's a coordinator! Shoot! SHOOT!" The second Earth Alliance soldier shouted and pulled the trigger of his assault rifle however due to the unnatural speed of the Coordinator, the bullets fired from the pistol and rifle just danced across the floor, striking everything in the room except their intended target. Dashing ahead of the hail of lead, Kazuki made a bee line for the soldiers that were firing at him and leaped into the air, striking the second soldier with the heel of his foot which knocked the unfortunate grunt unconscious. "FUCK!" He cursed as he fired his assault rifle until the magazine ran dry, it was then he too had been winded from fist to the stomach and was followed up by a blow to the back of the skull from the butt of the rifle that Kazuki had confiscated earlier.

"Hopefully this will keep them busy until they reach the base." The ex-Combat Coordinator panted, wiping sweat from his brow and taking a couple of tablets to stabilize his condition before the pain could manifest itself.

However the peace and quiet that had settled over the room was soon broken when a the sound of two shots being fired from a silencer, pierced the air and impacted against the skulls of the unconscious soldiers, spilling blood and grey matter across the ruined floor. "Seems that you've grown soft Epsilon or should I call you Kazuki?" A male voice came from the darkened hall that lead into the kitchen of the bombed out building.

The brunette looked to the source of the voice and glared intently, immediately recognizing who the voice had belonged to. "Delta and I assume Beta..." He looked at the dead bodies of the soldiers that laid stiff on the cold hard ground, knowing full well that only Beta could execute a kill with such clean precision and at extreme distance with even a pistol.

Delta smirked approvingly and entered the same room that Kazuki had been standing in and kicked the corpses to make certain that they didn't some how manage to survive. "At least we won't have to remind you of who we are, so let's get down to business." The newcomer then turned to his fellow Extended Combat Coordinator with obvious intent. "We would like you to join us." His request sounded more like a demand.

"What?" The brunette questioned, unable to believe what he was hearing. Did the Earth Alliance really expect him to return to their good graces? No, there had to be some sort of catch, some sort of angle that they were working with.

Out from the same hall a lithe female figure exited the shadows and made her way over to the Lieutenant "We want you to join us. I missed you baby." she swooned, basically throwing herself at the young man.

.

Ignoring Beta, he turned his attention to Delta with a scowl etched on his features. "Why should I rejoin those bastards in the Earth Alliance? Besides I assume that they'd prefer that I be executed for what I did." It seemed odd to him that his former 'handlers' would want to back, the usual procedure was a trial followed by an execution but seeing as he was a part of a clandestine black operation then of course the standard rules wouldn't apply to the situation, however irregardless he was expecting some sort of punishment for his act of treason and he wasn't going to go back and become some mindless puppet again.

"The Earth Alliance?" He responded almost offended by what Kazuki had said. "We've become more than what they see before them. More than what that pompous fool sees." he exclaimed, almost zealously so.

The young woman pressed a finger against his lips to silence Kazuki. "Essentially sweetie, we want you to join us and us alone." Beta said in a seductive tone and attempted to steal a kiss from the brunette however she was brushed off and ignored.

"Just what is it that you're planning?" He pressed with his questioning, he found it strange that his comrades were willing to turn their back on the Earth Alliance and start thinking for themselves.

Delta leaned against a wall and looked out the window and focused on the chaos outside, the death and destruction that hadn't littered been seen in streets of Berlin since the second world war. "We plan on teaching humanity to place value on itself." He replied simply.

Kazuki had managed to break free from Beta's hold and walked up to Delta with a skeptical look in his eyes. "How will you do that? Another G.E.N.E.S.I.S. Weapon? Why do you even need me?" He could only imagine how they could achieve that goal but in any respect Delta sounded as if he believed that he was above both Coordinators and Naturals.

The assassin draped herself over Kazuki once again. "Join us and I'll be sure to tell you all you need to know babe." she whispered into the brunette's ear.

Delta pushed off the wall and walked up to the side of their wayward comrade and stared at him from the corner of his eye with a serious look. "It's not so much as we need you, but we need your abilities and potential as a weapon." he stated coldly.

"Daniel!" Xia-Hong, Beta's birth name, replied crossly to Delta's poor choice of words. Using that kind of dialogue at this point would drive Kazuki away, and everything would be ruined for her and the small group's plans.

The brunette once again broke away from the assassin and picked up the rifle that he had been using and the pistol of the fallen Earth Alliance soldier. "I refuse." he said plainly, making his way to the door "I will not become some pawn who kills on command and I definitely won't target civilians, just to teach humanity to 'value itself' or so you claim."

Daniel frowned at their former comrade for rejecting the offer and for insulting their credibility. "So you're going to waste your potential and not change things? You won't change this cruel world and the vicious cycle?" Delta demanded an answer from Kazuki, however he would receive no such thing and watched him leave the building. "Looks like he's a no go. We'll let the boss know before we start our other job at Ledonia." The auburn-haired Delta turned to Beta with a heavy sigh and lead the way back to the Earth Alliance's headquarters with their report on Epsilon's decision

Far from Kazuki's position in West Berlin, where the rebelling citizens of Eurasia had set their main camp, Jura, Matthew and Meia had managed to evade capture and rendezvous with resistance forces as well as their machines. Unfortunately by the time they had arrived the Earth forces were breathing down the necks of resistance fighters and that meant that shape of the battlefield was rapidly changing for the worse. "We were expecting four of you, however we can't afford the luxury of being picky. We're getting hammered pretty badly on all fronts, the Earth Alliance has started deploying their mobile suits against us so we need you to head out ASAP." The appointed leader of the resistance followed Matthew over to the Buster Dagger up until its pilot climbed into the cockpit.

"Thanks for the update pal, but I think it's pretty obvious that the bad guys are winning. Well you got me now, so you don't need to worry about a thing." He said with an arrogant tone in his voice, confident that everything was going accordingly. Ducking down into his seat, the playboy pilot began the start up sequence for his machine. "Matthew Jameson, Buster Dagger! Taking off!" The pilot eased the controls and the pedals gently, bringing the bipedal machine into a standing position and began the march towards the fighting.

"This is Jura here, I'm good to go." The blonde haired woman had trouble getting her machine to stand at first however everything soon fell into place and had gotten a feel for the controls.

Meia on the other hand felt at home in the cockpit of the Mobile Suit due to the controls being similar to the Dreads before they had been engulfed by the Paksis and that it didn't feel like a coffin like the Vanguard the women had to pilot on the planet that had been harvested for blood cells. "Meia reporting, I'm heading out." she eased the Dagger L into a stand and followed Jura and their group 'leader' out to battle.

**Ending - Reason by NaThmi Tamaki**

As Meia and Jura experience their first battle on Earth's surface, Kazuki has to make it across a burning Berlin. However as the fighting continues to rage between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance, the Extended Combat Coordinators begin to make their move. Next on Vandread SEED Destiny: Fields of War. Soar to the skies DINN!


	9. Fields of War

**Vandread is property of Gonzo and Media Factory animation studios**

**Gundam SEED is property of Sunrise and Bandai Entertainment.**

**Kazuki Uraki and all other OCs mentioned are owned by yours truly**.

**A/N: **Here it is; Chapter 9 of Vandread SEED Destiny and not only is it an action packed chapter but you get to see Kazuki's custom 105 Dagger fully upgraded and kicking serious ass. Although I said that the second instalment will be called Vandread SEED Reborn, the name didn't sound right to me and therefore entitled: Vandread SEED Reunion. Also if you're the artistic sort, feel free to make some sort of fanart or trailer. As usual please leave a review.

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**Vandread SEED Destiny: Phase 09 – Fields of War**

"Thanks for the update pal, but I think it's pretty obvious that the bad guys are winning. Well you got me now, so you don't need to worry about a thing." He said with an arrogant tone in his voice, confident that everything was going accordingly. Ducking down into his seat, the playboy pilot began the start up sequence for his machine. "Matthew Jameson, Buster Dagger! Taking off!" The pilot eased the controls and the pedals gently, bringing the bipedal machine into a standing position and began the march towards the fighting.

"This is Jura here, I'm good to go." The blonde haired woman had trouble getting her machine to stand at first however everything soon fell into place and had gotten a feel for the controls.

Meia on the other hand felt at home in the cockpit of the Mobile Suit due to the controls being similar to the Dreads before they had been engulfed by the Paksis and that it didn't feel like a coffin like the Vanguard the women had to pilot on the planet that had been harvested for blood cells. "Meia reporting, I'm heading out." she eased the Dagger L into a stand and followed Jura and their group 'leader' out to battle.

**Opening – Pride by HIGH AND MIGHTY COLOR**

Houses exploded into a mess of flame and debris, throwing stone, concrete and glass up and down the streets of Berlin. This destruction that began to rain over the capital city of Germany marked the beginning of a new offensive not only against Anti-Earth Alliance sentiments but also against ZAFT's efforts to put down both Atlantic Federation, Blue Cosmos and by extension Logos. On the devastated streets of the German city, gunfire skittered across walls and pavement as a lone figure dodged and manoeuvred through the ruins in an attempt to get to the headquarters of those that were against the hated conscription policies of the Eurasian Federation. Starting to feel the ill effects of the stabilisation and fortification drug to wear off, Kazuki's breathing had become laboured and his stamina being drained, this became all to apparent when a bullet from an alerted soldier had fired and managed to graze the shoulder of the Extended Combat Coordinator, even though it was only a flesh wound, the bullet had hit the wall of a building and chipped off some concrete which then embedded itself inside the injury and all the running and climbing he was doing was only helping to irritate and cause more damage inside the wound..Feeling his pursuers closing in on him, Kazuki began looking for a quick way to escape the soldiers that were on foot, unfortunately for him the only method that was left available to him was to scale a wall at the end of a narrow street that joined onto the one he was using

Seeing that it was his only escape, the brunette bounded off a pile of rubble made of brick, mortar and tile from a nearby building and stretched out his arm, as he reached for the edge of the two and a half metre, high wall he felt the shard move inside his wound. "Nngh." He winced as the pain shot through his body, a sign that the medication would wear off and the artificially enhanced adrenalin would eventually overwhelm and corrupt his nervous system, leading to his entire body shutting down. With pain shooting through his body, he found his grip on the wall's ledge and soon felt air rush against his back however the feeling of cool air was which soon replaced by hard ground. As the brunette struggled to get to his feet he heard the click of safeties being released.

Raising his head an Earth Alliance soldier shoved an assault rifle in his face. "Get up and don't try anything funny!" The soldier demanded, as two more soldiers moved to Kazuki's side and brought him to his feet.

Above the city, explosions filled the air as missiles and green energy beams crossed the sky, as missile, gatling trucks and Dagger Ls battled through the streets. "Gah! I know we trained for this Meia but we're fighting living people, not automated machines. How are we supposed to defeat them without killing them?" Jura's mobile suit moved rigidly across the battlefield, barely escaping being hit by an enemy mobile suit.

However Meia had accidentally discovered how to beat the mobile suits without killing the pilots inside when her mobile suit fell back and an enemy went in close for an attack of their own, but she instinctively reacted and drew her beam saber and disabled the main camera and followed through by cutting the Dagger L's arm off. "If you're worried about the pilots, don't aim for the cockpits and you'll do fine." she shrugged off another hostile mobile suit with her Dagger L's shield and shot the enemy's main camera out as it stumbled backward, crushing some buildings behind it. Not long into the escalating battle, the fighting had soon started to stray further-and-further into the city

As the sound of battle grew louder and more intense, the soldiers that had detained Kazuki were growing anxious by the minute wanting to finish their 'business' as soon as possible. Unlike tanks where the can drive through walls and paths are easy to predict, Mobile Suits on the other hand can crush a building by simply falling on top of them and with their legs, clumsy maneuvers prove to be hard to predict and that much more difficult to avoid. "Sir! We should hurry, sit sounds like the battle is getting close." One of the privates in the group, pressed the issue of the risk in being close to mobile suits in combat.

The sergeant leading the group of the soldiers and the closest to Kazuki nodded in agreement and brought out his pistol, and looked at the sickly looking coordinator with both scorn and disgust. "Agreed private, let's finish this traitorous Coordinator scum and head back to HQ." He barked.

Kazuki panted and fumbled at the utility belt trying to find the container for the tablets to stabilise his condition "_He knew I was a Coordinator?...must have been them." _He deduced that the only way that the soldiers that had him cornered, received the information about him would have likely come from Beta and Delta. _"Shit...Everything is going dark...I have to...remain awake...damn it!"_ He cursed mentally at his current state of weakness.

The hand that he had been using to search for his medication suddenly went limp and fell to the cold, wet ground of the snow covered German city. Even though his visual perception was fading, he could still hear the click of the safety of a pistol being removed, followed by the cocking action of a bullet being loaded into the chamber. "I have to say, that the way you look now is quite suitable. A rabid dog, lying helpless in the street waiting to die!" His voice was filled with venom, while he marched up to the brunette and placed the pistol against his temple. However the shot would never come, instead it was the crumbling of one of the ruined buildings that surrounded the alleyway.

Turning their attention to the Dagger L that had interrupted them, they were rendered dumbfounded as they tried to figure out what they were seeing was friend or foe. However their question were answered when the machine began to move "Lieutenant Uraki?" Meia saw the crowd below her mobile suit,_ "LIEUTENANT URAKI! ARE YOU OKAY?"_ her voice echoed over the external speakers, trying to get a response from the other member of the team she arrived with. That's when the soldiers turned their weapons on the Dagger L piloted by Meia. However the ricochetting bullets weren't her concern at that point, ignoring the small arms fire coming from the Earth Alliance soldiers, Meia carefully scooped up the weakened Extended Combat Coordinator with the Dagger L's hand "He doesn't look too good, I have to get him to the First Aid tent back the forward base." she said to herself, looking over the young man through the main camera.

"I'm...ugh...fine." He said wincing in pain as he willed himself to move, again fumbling for the tablet case again. "Just...get...me to...nrgh..to my machine."

The blue haired young woman shook her head in disdain, he was being stubborn and reckless, just like Hibiki and her old self _"YOU'RE NOT FINE! AND YOU'RE IN NO POSITION TO FIGHT IN THAT CONDITION!"_ Her voice boomed. He didn't have time to argue and found the container and popped the seal and shook out a couple of tablets onto his hand and swallowed them in one gulp. As the medicine started to take effect, he pulled a thin knife from the boot of his pilot suit and drove it into his arm. _"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"_ Meia said out of shock and horror, she couldn't believe that someone would intentionally stab themselves in the shoulder. As he dug the knife into the wound he had received earlier and found the piece of concrete that had embedded itself, carefully he worked the tip of the blade underneath the chip and began drawing it to the surface, which then flicked out of the open wound with a drops of blood following after it.

Tossing aside the bloodied knife, the brunette youth then used his free hand splashed some disinfectant on the wound, gauss, a cotton pad and some medical tape to cover the injury. "I am fine. Now get me to my machine." He replied with a cold tone in his voice that was only matched by the look in his eyes.

The young woman that was piloting the mobile suit gulped audibly and nodded without a word, she couldn't help but wonder what was up with the male before her, she had never met someone who was even more intense than Hibiki. _"Hey Meia! Where are you going?"_ Jura's face appeared on the blue haired woman's screen. "I found Lieutenant Uraki, I'm taking him back to the main camp." she replied to her blonde haired companion. _"Good, hopefully we can end this mission and get back to the Nirvana after this."_ The Mejeran said a little grateful for the news.

"Hey! Wait Meia! That means I have to fight these guys on my own! You can't be serious..." The blonde groaned. Unlike their mission on the desert planet, this one was proving to be more difficult because not only was she out numbered but also she had to deal with enemies in the air that accompanied the ground troops. _"What am I? Chopped liver?"_ Lieutenant Jameson appeared on Jura's monitor after seeing Meia's machine heading away from the combat zone. "You heard that?" She responded with a mix of nervousness and surprise.

The lieutenant stared at the blonde woman with a knowing look, something that sent shivers down her spine. "I did, however more importantly why is she headed back towards the rebel's headquarters?" He said with mild concern, the only thing he had heard was Jura complaining about being left to fight on her own. _"She found Kazuki Uraki and is taking him back"_ the Mejeren stated, still feeling a little uneasy about the sudden change of character in Matthew "I see" He mused, casting his gaze to the side and towards the rebel camp. _"Is something wrong?" _Jura questioned "No everything is just fine." He replied before closing the channel and ending the conversation immediately, however no sooner had the window that held the blonde woman's image had closed, than a message had appeared on the combat computer's screen and earned and intrigued, yet chilling smirk from the Buster Dagger's pilot.

With gunfire echoing in the background and an orange hue staining the night sky. Meia's Dagger L, walked cautiously through the makeshift forward base of operations and manoeuvred the machine into a kneeling position. Stepping down off of the hand and onto the ground, Kazuki rushed to his waiting machine and bounded up the side of the truck that carried his Mobile Suit. However as he made his way to his machine, the leader of the resistance group ran up to the Coordinator, the man's slender features were scrunched and contorted with frustration "Are you the guy who's piloting this mobile suit? Where the hell have you been?" the middle-aged man demanded to know, only to be completely unnoticed by the pilot. This however only served to irritate the self-appointed leader of the group even further and not wanting to be ignored by someone he considered to a subordinate, the Frenchman climbed the trailer and poked his head into the cockpit of the Enhanced 105 Dagger. "Hey! Listen to me when I am speaking!" He snapped, just as green energy beams began to rain down on their location.

Responding to the sudden attack from the airborne Windams, Meia raised her shield and immediately began returning fire and managed to cripple a few of the attackers. During the confusion, the leader was left shocked and confused on what to do. "I'm heading out." Kazuki said and closed the hatch to the cockpit. Lightly pressing the pedals and moving the controls forward, the trailer groaned as the restraints broke free from the machine and the cables that had been feeding power to the unit were ejected from the plugs located on the back. Once the humanoid machine had completely freed itself from the cradle that had been restraining it, the eyes flashed a bright green signalling that the systems were online and ready for combat operations.

"Hey! I haven't finished-" The Frenchman shouted up at Kazuki's machine in vain before jumping out of the way and narrowly avoided being crushed by one of the falling cables that had been feeding power to the 105 Dagger. Taking a few steps forward there was grating sound as the dull dark grey colours had changed to a black and white colour scheme with white ornate trim. Realising that they had a new enemy to deal with the hostile Windams immediately refocused their attention on Kazuki's unit and fired on his location. Knowing that he was jeopardising the safety of the rebel leader, the coordinator moved to protect the man, using mobile suit's shield to absorb the beam. "Damn it! Shoot them down already!" The Frenchman demanded.

Kazuki didn't need anyone to tell him to begin returning fire, and immediately turned to face the Earth Alliance mobile suits that were destroying the rebel camp."Roger." The verniers on the modified Aile pack, burned white hot as the machine soared into the sky and began firing one of the linear rifles that was embedded in the right shield, disabling the main camera and weapon of a Windam and then fired a rocket anchor from the left hand, capturing it and used the enemy mobile suit like a hammer, striking down a pair of Windams and then moved on to the last trio of airborne enemy units with a MA-M21G Beam Rifle, disabling them with clean efficiency.

After clearing the skies above the rebel base, the Lieutenant pushed the throttle forward and headed towards the centre of Berlin, straight into the thick of the battle. As the fighting continued to rage on, Jura's machine stumbled back as the power in her Dagger L had begun reaching critical levels and the Dagger Buster wasn't fairing any better."What? More enemy reinforcements?" The blonde said in exasperation as alarms inside her cockpit began to go off, signalling the approach of a fast moving object entering the sector.

Jameson furrowed his brow, unable to make sense of the data, if it was another Earth Forces unit there was no way that it could be a normal human piloting it. "It's approaching at an unnatural speed!" When the machine finally appeared on the field of battle and starred down the enemy Dagger Ls and Windams, Jameson immediately understood why the Mobile Suit had been moving at speeds that were beyond the specs of a normal Earth Alliance mobile. "Of course it has to be him..." The Buster Dagger pilot said in disgust.

The Earth Forces that were attempting to suppress the i[rising stood frozen in shocked confusion. "What the hell is that? The rebels have a Slaughter Dagger?" They tried to make sense of the unbelievable speed that the Dagger had been travelling at, the only party they knew of that would operate a machine at such speeds were their own ruthless Phantom Pain unit.

"Impossible! It moves at twice the speed it normally does!" One of the grunts refused to believe that the particular unit in front of him could be used by an extended.

"WHO CARES? SHOOT IT DOWN!" Another shouted, trying to suppress the fear welling up deep inside the pit of his stomach and immediately opened fire on Kazuki's custom mecha. As green energy buffeted the Phase Shift armour, the upgraded 105 Dagger drew a pair of beam sabers from its enhanced Aile pack and charged forward, severing the torso's of two enemy mobile suits, just above their cockpits and sparred the pilots inside. As the unit passed the Earth Alliance Dagger Ls, it came to a halt and flung its arms forward to release a pair of beam sabers. The energy swords travelled through the air, the green blades hummed as they were swept across the battlefield by the rocket anchors of Kazuki's unit and sliced the main camera's and weaponry in half. However he wasn't finished and launched himself into the air and whipped the beam sabers around, again cut the main camera's off of the Jet Dagger Ls and then returned the energy swords to their charging racks, before flying above them and disabled the Jet Striker Packs with his mobile suit's 57mm high energy beam rifle. As pillars of black smoke arose from the wreckages of the disabled mobile suits and the unharmed pilots ran from the war zone, Meia and Jura just sat in the cockpit's of their own machines completely surprised at what they had just witnessed, all hostiles were either neutralised or in retreat, there were no casualties and minimal collateral damage to the surrounding area. Matthew on the other hand just glared intently at Kazuki's modified 105 Dagger and contemplated in silence about something other than the battle and his comrade's performance.

However the Extended Combat Coordinator wasn't satisfied with just disabling the combat personnel and knew that in order to eliminate the threat, the head of the serpent had to be removed. "We've lost contact with both the land and air forces, we need to retreat and regroup." One of the Earth Alliance commanders began to panic at how many mobile suits suddenly went dark.

"No! We've been ordered to suppress the resistance here, call for reinforcements." Another protested bitterly, unwilling to admit defeat and face humiliation at how the had lost their position to a bunch of lucky rebels.

A third slammed his fist down hard on a wooden table inside of the radar truck. "Do you actually think the President of the Eurasian or Atlantic Federation will waste any more troops on this pointless endeavour?" The large man stated matter-of-factly. Neither one of the main powers had the resource nor the man power left to reinforce Berlin, especially since the foolhardy attack on the PLANT homeland was repelled and now had much of their own people up in arms.

"They have to, they can't..."The second commander, refused to believe that their own superiors were simply going to give away valuable territory, however he became distracted by the sound of an engine the hovered above their vehicle "Is...is that one of ours?" he squinted at the figure that was being silhouetted by the sun with the exception of the eyes which flashed a bright emerald green once it had identified its target.

In what seemed like an instant, a pair of hip mounted rail cannons rose into position and two beam pistols were drawn from the additional hip mounted storage racks in one swift movement. As the pilot of the 105 Dagger stared expressionlessly at the faces of his targets and pulled the trigger without hesitation, bombarding the Earth Alliance's mobile HQ with beams and slugs turning the area into a hollowed out, glass crater."Earth Alliance officers have been eliminated." After completing his self-appointed task, aimed his machine towards the rebel's main camp _'I am no one's puppet.' _He thought to himself, as the conversation from earlier still weighed heavily on Kazuki's mind.

On the outskirts of the capital city of Germany in an abandoned church, the pair of Extended Combat Coordinators that still affiliated themselves with the Earth Alliance had managed to make contact with their group's leader and updated them on their current status._"So he still refuses to side with us?"_ Alpha surmised "Yes and I am afraid that he is quite adamant about not joining us. However I did manage to obtain a sample, like you requested" The dark haired male lifted a vial, that had a few strands of hair in it and shook it._"Very well, after you've finished your mission in Ledonia, I want you to return to space immediately."_ The leader of the small group ordered. "What about Epsilon?" Delta asked, concerned about their wayward companion. _"Don't worry about that. I'll be sending Gamma to try and convince him through other means. One way or another he will join us."_ Seth said with finality and closed the channel, as a leader and a squad commander he knew how to work people and find a weakness in anyone and exploit it.

**Ex-Earth Alliance vessel _JELLICOE_; Location – en route to rendezvous point E32 with the _Nirvana._**

Finish with the resupply and after taking on additional supplies for the _Nirvana_, the _JELLICOE_ rose from its berth at the Copernicus Lunar Base. On the the bridge of the Nelson-class Battleship, the elderly male captain of the vessel sat back in his chair and read the report from the alien vessel. "I'm sorry to hear that you were unable to get the information to solve your problem, captain." He apologised to the female captain, lowering the clipboard in his hand and gently pushed it aside.

Magno smiled slightly, not because she appreciated the concern but because of how the other captain was underestimating the _Nirvana_ and her crew. _"Oh...you don't need to worry about that, we didn't exactly leave empty handed." _She said with a hint of cheek in her voice.

"We received an update from the ZAFT, our team on the ground is just mopping up remaining hostile forces and training select locals to pilot captured mobile suits." Theodore Dupont summarised the report he had received from the PLANT homeland.

Before the captain of the _Nirvana_ could reply, the communication's console began beeping and interrupted the conversation. "Sir! We're receiving a transmission, it's a new contract!" the communication's officer spoke up after reading the new priority message.

The elderly man scratched the scruff of his beard and let out a sigh before continuing."If you'll excuse us captain." The main monitor then went dark and the captain then released the buckle of his seat belt and floated over to the communication officer's station and looked over his shoulder "Hmm...never expected them to contact us, patch a line through to our forces on the ground and inform the clients that we accept the terms of the contract." No one knew what to make of this recent request and knowing the client's history, it would most likely cause quite a stir with all parties involved in the war.

"Sir I can't get through Lieutenant Jameson." the comm's officer, attempted several times to raise the current tanking officer on the field, however there was no reply each time.

The captain of the _JELLICOE_ frowned as his bones began to ache, something didn't feel right and it just wasn't his joints. "Pass on the details to the other units then and find out why we've lost contact with Jameson's unit." He ordered, hoping that Kazuki and the others will be able to handle themselves.

**Liberator PMC Terrestrial Forces; Location – German/Denmark Boarder **

Upon receiving the data transmission from the _JELLICOE_, the Extended Combat Coordinator immediately opened the message. "The Arch Angel..." It had been a long time since he had heard that name and the last time he had seen it, was during the last war.

As the group continued to traverse the European wilderness, Matthew Jameson stopped in his tracks and drew out the machines beam sabers. "Is something wrong? Wha-?" She was cut short when Jameson's Buster Dagger and cleaved the legs off of Meia's machine an charged forward, making a bee-line towards Kazuki's 105 Dagger.

"MEIA!" Jura called out watching her comrade fall to the ground and frozen in confusion, unable to comprehend why someone who was an ally a moment ago would suddenly turn on them.

As the artillery unit passed Jura without a second glance, Jameson's unit leaped into the air with his beam sabers at the ready to bring down on his prey. "Hey Kazuki! Be a pal and DIE!" He shouted just before the brown haired pilot blocked the strike, shifting his weight he then blocked a slashing attack aimed at his midsection and knocked his former comrade back and lunged for the Buster Dagger's main camera however his own attack was knocked away. "HA! TOO PREDICTABLE! What?" The sniper failed to realise the attack at the main camera was a feint and lost one of the Buster Dagger's arm "Hmph...no reason to stick around anymore." The dark haired male knew that the battle was soon going to end up with him losing more than his mobile suit's arm and set the Buster Dagger's auto-destruct.

Seeing his former comrade exit from the artillery unit and making a break for it, Kazuki soon realised what was happening and moved to Meia's side and raised the shield her unit had been carrying and used it to protect both the Mejeran woman and himself. "USE YOUR SHIELD!" He shouted to the other female in the group.

"Ah...Right!" She didn't know what this was about but followed his lead anyway and she was lucky that she had, a moment later and she wouldn't be alive to tell the tale.

"I guess we're even now." Meia said letting out a sigh of relief, however after looking at everyone's machine the grim reality of their situation dawned on her. Even if Jura's and Kazuki's machine escaped the explosion without harm, their units would be low on energy. "But now our machines are too damaged or depleted to continue." she said in a low and serious tone.

"So what are we going to do now?" The blonde woman complained bitterly, she hated the grim situation that they were in and has had enough of fighting on the ground and wanted to get back to the safety of the _Nirvana_.

Meia had already begun to think of ways to remedy the situation. "We could-" however her voice had been drowned out by Kazuki's thoughts as he focused on the words on his screen. _"You should have killed me when you had the chance."_ These were the last words he received from Matthew Jameson, did they represent an omen of things to come or something else completely entirely

**Ending – Reason By Nami Tamaki**

A past that had been stolen, a future that had been deprived and a meeting that should never have happened. This is the realisation that Kazuki comes too as he meets the souls who fought so hard for peace during the last war. As the world is plunged into chaos, betrayal is met with more betrayal. Next on Vandread SEED Destiny: What Was Lost. Awaken Freedom and soar towards the promised land.


End file.
